NTC''''s Pocket Dictionary of Words and Phrases part 43 pot

not agree with someone [for food] to be unacceptable to some-one and make the person sick.. not see further than the end of one’s nose to care only about what is actually present or obvi

→ not see further than the end of

one’snose

→ pay through the nose (for

something)

→ poke one’snose in(to something)

→ put one’snose to the grindstone

→ put someone’snose out of joint

→ right under someone’snose

→ rub someone’snose in something

→ runny nose

→ stick one’snose in(to something)

→ thumb one’snose at someone or

something

→ turn one’snose up at someone or

something

→ under someone’s(very) nose

→ win by a nose

nose someone or something out to

defeat someone or something by a

narrow margin (Alludes to a

horse winning a race “by a nose.”)

nosedive ["noz daIv] 1 n a

sud-den drop or decline, especially the

sudden fall of an airplane with the

nose pointing downward 2 iv to

plunge with the nose pointing

downward 3 iv [for a

measure-ment] to decline or drop suddenly

(Figurative on W.)

→ go into a nosedive

→ take a nosedive

nostril ["nas tr@l] n one of the two

outside holes of the nose

nosy ["noz i] adj trying to find out

(private) things about people or

things; snooping; prying (Adv:

nosily Comp: nosier; sup: nosiest.)

not ["nat] 1 adv a negative particle

used with verbs, adverbs,

partici-ples, prepositions, nominals, and

adjectives (Contracted to n’t.)

2 adv a negative particle that

stands for a part of a sentence that

is being refused, denied, or

negated

not a moment to spare and without a moment to spare in

a very big hurry

not able to see the forest for the trees allowing many details

of a problem to obscure the prob-lem as a whole

not able to stomach someone or

something and cannot stomach

someone or something not to be able to put up with someone or something; not to be able to toler-ate or endure someone or some-thing

not agree with someone [for food] to be unacceptable to some-one and make the person sick

not at all not to any extent or

degree; not in any way (Always in the negative or questions.)

not born yesterday experienced;

knowledgeable in the ways of the world

not carry weight (with someone)

[for someone] to have no influ-ence with someone; [for some-thing] to have no significance for someone

not for hire [of a taxi] not

avail-able to take new passengers

not for publication not to be

talked about openly; secret

not give it another thought not

to worry about something any-more

not have a leg to stand on [for a

person’s argument or a case] to have no support

not hold water to make no sense;

to be illogical (Said of ideas, argu-nose someone or something out

386

ments, etc., not people It means

that the idea has holes in it.)

not know enough to come in

out of the rain to be very stupid.

not know one’s own strength not

to realize how destructive or

harmful one’s strength can be

(Present tense only.)

not know someone from Adam

not to know someone at all

not long for this world to be

about to die

not one’s place not one’s role to do

something

not open one’s mouth and not

utter a word to say nothing at

all; not to say anything; not to tell

something (to anyone)

not see further than the end of

one’s nose to care only about

what is actually present or

obvi-ous; not to care about the future or

about what is happening elsewhere

or to other people

not set foot somewhere to stay out

of or away from somewhere; not

to go somewhere

not show one’s face not to appear

(somewhere)

not sleep a wink not to sleep at

all; to be sleepless; not to close

one’s eyes in sleep even as long as it

takes to blink

not someone’s cup of tea not

something one prefers

not tell a soul not to reveal

some-thing to anyone

not up to scratch not adequate.

not utter a word Go to not open

one’smouth.

not worth mentioning 1 not

important enough to require a

comment 2 [of an error or

wrong] not worth apologizing for

not worth the trouble not

impor-tant enough to require a comment

notation [no "te S@n] n a set of

signs or symbols that is used to represent something

notch ["natS] 1 n a V-shaped cut

in a surface, made for a specific

reason 2 n a degree of quality or quantity (Figurative on Q.) 3 tv.

to make a V-shaped cut for a spe-cific reason

note ["not] 1 n a short written message 2 n a comment on the

bottom of a page or at the end of a book that explains, clarifies, or provides the source of something

in the text (See also footnote.)

3 n a piece of paper money; a bill 4 n the written symbol for a specific musical tone 5 n a

spe-cific musical tone; one sound made by singing or playing a musical instrument 6 n a sign of

something; a hint of something

7 tv to write something as a short

message (The object can be a clause with that U.) 8 tv to

remark about something; to state something; to observe something (The object is a clause with that

U.) 9 tv to pay attention to

something; to remember some-thing (The object can be a clause with that U.)

→ hit a sour note

→ someoneof note

→ strike a sour note

notebook ["not bUk] n a book in

which notes are written

notebook

387

notepaper ["not pe p#] n paper

that notes, such as thank-you

notes, are written on (Plural only

for types and instances.)

notes n information that is written

down by someone while listening

to a lecture or reading a book

nothing ["n^T IN] 1 pron not one

thing; not a thing; not anything

(No plural Treated as singular.)

2 n something that is without

meaning; something that is not

significant or important; not

any-thing that is significant or

impor-tant (No plural Treated as

singular.) 3 n zero; no amount.

(No plural.)

→ in nothing flat

→ like nothing on earth

→ next to nothing

→ sweet nothings

→ want for nothing

nothing but only; just.

nothing but skin and bones and

all skin and bones very thin or

emaciated

nothing short of something more

or less the same as something bad;

as bad as something

notice ["not Is] 1 tv to see, hear,

taste, or smell someone or

some-thing; to be aware of someone or

something (The object can be a

clause with that U.) 2 n an

announcement; a sign that warns

or informs; a warning 3 n

atten-tion; a state of awareness [about

something] (No plural.)

→ sit up and take notice

noticeable ["not Is @ b@l] adj able

to be seen; easily seen; easily

noticed (Adv: noticeably.)

notify ["not @ faI] tv to inform

someone about something; to tell someone officially about some-thing

notion ["no S@n] 1 n an opinion; a belief 2 n a whim; an intention noun ["naUn] n a word that refers

to a person, place, thing, or idea (See also nominal.)

nourish ["n# IS] 1 tv to feed

someone or something; to give someone or something the things necessary for life and health 2 tv.

to encourage something; to sup-port something as it develops (Figurative on Q Used especially with feelings and emotions.)

novel ["nav @l] 1 n a relatively long, written story 2 adj new;

original; not known before

novelty ["nav @l ti] 1 n the quality

of being novel; the quality of being new or original (Plural only for types and instances.) 2 n a small

item, often inexpensive and

usu-ally interesting or amusing 3 the

adj use of Q or W (Prenominal

only.)

November [no "vEm b#] Go to

month.

novice ["nav Is] 1 n someone who

is new at a job or responsibility

2 n someone who has just joined

a religious order and will become a

monk or a nun 3 adj [of

some-one] new to a task or activity (Prenominal only.)

now ["naU] 1 adv at this moment;

at this point in time; immediately

2 adv in these days; in modern times; in present times 3 adv a

word used for emphasis, to get notepaper

388

someone’s attention, with

com-mands, and to move on to the next

topic 4 n the present; this time.

(No plural.)

now and then sometimes;

occa-sionally

nowhere ["no WEr] adv at no place;

to or toward no place; not to or at

any place

→ come from nowhere

nowhere near not nearly.

nuclear ["nu kli #] adj of or about

the nucleus of an atom or the

energy created by splitting or

fus-ing the nuclei of atoms

nuclei ["nu kli aI] plural ofnucleus.

nucleus ["nu kli @s] 1 n., irreg the

center of something; the core of

something (Plural: nuclei.) 2 n.,

irreg the core of an atom,

consist-ing of protons and neutrons 3 n.,

irreg the control center of a living

cell

nude ["nud] 1 adj naked; not

wearing any clothes 2 n someone

who is not wearing any clothes; a

statue or a painting of someone

who is not wearing any clothes

→ in the nude

nuisance ["nu s@ns] n a bother;

someone or something that is

annoying

→ make a nuisance of oneself

numb ["n^m] 1 adj unable to feel

anything; unable to sense

any-thing (Adv: numbly ["n^m li].

Comp: number ["n^m #]; sup:

numbest ["n^m @st].) 2 tv to

cause someone or something to be

unable to feel anything

number ["n^m b#] 1 n a symbol

or a word that expresses an

amount; a symbol or a word that shows how many; a digit or series

of digits that has an assigned sig-nificance 2 n a specific Q that

identifies someone or something

in a series (Also appears as the symbol (#).) 3 n a song; a piece of music 4 n a grammatical

cate-gory showing whether one or more than one person or thing is being referred to (Plural only for types and instances.) 5 tv to

assign something a Q (Refers especially to things in a series.)

6 tv to reach a total of a certain

amount; to be a certain amount

→ cardinal number

→ divide a numberby a number

→ divide a numberinto a number

→ divide by a number

→ go into a number

→ in round numbers

→ multiply a numberby a number

→ one’sdays are numbered

→ ordinal number

a number of people or things some

people or things, in an indefinite amount (Numberis treated as plu-ral, but not countable.)

number off (by something) to say

a number in a specified sequence when it is one’s turn

number someone off to assign

numbers or positions in a sequence to a group of people

numeral ["num @ r@l] n the symbol

or figure that represents a number

→ Arabic numeral

→ cardinal numeral

→ ordinal numeral

→ Roman numeral

numerous ["num @ r@s] adj many;

several; a lot (Adv: numerously.)

numerous

389

nun ["n^n] n a woman who is a

member of a religious order

nurse ["n#s] 1 n someone, usually

a woman, trained to provide

med-ical care, often under the

supervi-sion of a physician 2 n a woman

who raises other people’s children;

a woman who helps a family raise

its children 3 tv to feed a baby

milk from one’s breast 4 tv [for

anyone] to treat a disease or a sick

person 5 iv [for a female

mam-mal] to feed a baby mammal as in

E 6 iv [for a baby mammal] to

suck or take milk from a female

mammal

nurse someone back to health

[for anyone] to provide medical

care that will restore someone to

good health

nurse someone through

(some-thing) to care for a sick person

during the worst part of a sickness

or recovery

nursery ["n#s (@) ri] 1 n a room

for babies in a hospital or

resi-dence 2 n a place where children

are watched while their parents are

busy at something else 3 n a

place where plants are grown and

sold

nut ["n^t] 1 n a hard, woody shell containing an edible part 2 n the

edible part of Q, used as food

3 n someone who is crazy,

insane, or foolish (Slang.)

→ everything from soup to nuts

nutrition [nu "trI S@n] n the

sci-ence of providing people with information about healthy food (No plural.)

nuts and bolts (of something) the

basic facts about something; the practical details of something

nutshell ["n^t SEl] n the hard,

woody shell around the edible part

of a nut

→ in a nutshell

nutty ["n^t i] 1 adj tasting like a

nut; made from nuts (Adv: nut-tily Comp: nuttier; sup: nuttiest.)

2 adj crazy; insane (Slang Adv:

nuttily Comp: nuttier; sup: nuttiest.)

nuzzle up to someone or some-thing to nestle against someone or something, especially if leading with the nose or face

nylon ["naI lan] 1 n a very strong

but light, often flexible fiber made from chemicals, that is used espe-cially to make clothes and fabric (No plural.) 2 adj made from Q.

nun

390

oak ["ok] 1 n a kind of strong tree

that produces an edible nut 2 n.

wood from Q (Plural only for

types and instances.) 3 adj made

from W

oar ["or] n a long pole with one

wide, flat end—similar to a

pad-dle—used to steer and row boats

→ put in one’soar

oases [o "e siz] plural ofoasis.

oasis [o "e sIs] 1 n., irreg a place in

a desert that has water and trees

(Plural: oases.) 2 n., irreg a place

that is free of problems or

difficul-ties (Figurative on Q.)

oat ["ot] 1 n a cereal grain used as

food for humans and cattle 2 n a

single grain of Q 3 adj made of

Q

→ sow one’swild oats

oath ["oT] n., irreg a promise that

one will speak only the truth; a

promise that one will do

some-thing (Plural: ["oDz].)

→ take an oath

→ under oath

oatmeal ["ot mil] 1 n crushed

oats (No plural.) 2 n cooked Q,

usually eaten with milk and sugar

(No plural.) 3 adj made with

crushed oats

oats n a cereal grain used as food

for humans and cattle (Treated as

plural, but not countable.)

obedience [o "bid i @ns] n the

con-dition of being obedient (No

plu-ral.)

obedient [o "bid i @nt] adj obeying;

willingly following orders (Adv:

obediently.)

obey [o "be] 1 tv to yield to

some-one and do as some-one has been instructed; to follow instructions, commands, or rules 2 iv to do as

one is told

object 1 ["ab dZEkt] n a thing;

something that can be seen or

touched 2 ["ab dZEkt] n a goal;

an aim; someone or something that a thought or an action is directed toward 3 ["ab dZEkt] n.

a noun or nominal that is affected

by the action or condition of a verb, a noun or nominal within a prepositional phrase

→ Money is no object

object (to something) [@b

"dZEkt ] to oppose something; to argue against something; to make

an objection about something

objection [@b "dZEk S@n] n a stated

reason for not wanting to do something

oblige [@ "blaIdZ] iv to do

some-thing nice for someone; to do someone a favor

oblige someone to do something to

require someone to do something

oblong ["ab lON] adj [especially of

a circle or a rectangle] long and a

little narrow (Adv: oblongly.)

obnoxious [@b "nak S@s] adj very

annoying; very irritating (Adv:

obnoxiously.)

oboe ["o bo] n a musical

instru-ment that has a long, thin wooden body and a mouthpiece holding a double reed

obscure [@b "skjUr] 1 adj [of

rea-soning or explanation] hard to

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Copyright 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc

understand or not clearly stated.

(Adv: obscurely.) 2 adj not well

known; not famous (Adv:

obscurely.) 3 adj hard to see;

hid-den, especially by darkness (Adv:

obscurely.) 4 tv to make

thing hard to see; to keep

some-thing from view; to dim or darken

something 5 tv to make

some-thing difficult to understand; to

cloud one’s meaning (Figurative

on R.)

observe [@b "z#v] 1 tv to watch

something; to see something; to

notice something 2 tv to obey a

law or custom; to pay attention to

a law or custom (The object can

be a clause with that U.) 3 tv to

celebrate a holiday 4 tv to make a

comment or a remark; to state

something (The object is a clause

with that U.)

obsessed [@b "sEst] adj thinking

about someone or something too

much, as if one were forced to do

so

obsessed with someone or

some-thing always thinking about a

per-son, a thought, or an activity

obstruct [@b "str^kt] tv to get in

the way of someone or something;

to block someone or something

obstruction [@b "str^k S@n] n.

something that is in the way;

something that is blocking the

way

obtain [@b "ten] tv to get

thing; to gain possession of

some-thing; to come to own something

obvious ["ab vi @s] adj easily

rec-ognized; easily seen or

under-stood; plain; clear (Adv:

obviously.)

occasion [@ "ke Z@n] 1 n a time

when something happens; a time when something occurs; an instance 2 n a special event occasional [@ "ke Z@ n@l] adj

pening from time to time; hap-pening once in a while; not happening all the time or

regu-larly (Adv: occasionally.)

occult [@ "k^lt] adj hidden from

regular knowledge; filled with mystery

the occult n things that are hidden

from regular knowledge or experi-ence, including magic and other secret things (No plural Treated

as singular.)

occupancy ["ak j@ p@n si] 1 n.

occupying a house, building, or other piece of property (No plu-ral.) 2 n the number of people

that a room or building is allowed

to hold (No plural.)

→ immediate occupancy

occupant ["ak j@ p@nt] n someone

who lives in a certain place; a busi-ness that occupies a certain build-ing or space

occupation [ak j@ "pe S@n] 1 n a

job; a career; what one does for a

living 2 n taking or keeping

pos-session of a region or a country

occupy ["ak j@ paI] 1 tv to use or

consume time by doing

some-thing 2 tv to keep someone busy doing something 3 tv to be in a

certain place; to take up the space

in a certain place; to live in a cer-tain place; to have one’s business

in a certain place 4 tv to move

observe

392

into and take control of another

country

occur [@ "k#] 1 iv to happen; to

take place 2 iv to be; to exist; to

be found

occur to someone to come to

someone’s mind; [for a thought] to

enter into someone’s mind

occurrence [@ "k# @ns] n an event;

something that happens; an

inci-dent

theoccurrence of something the

existence of something; the

appearance or happening of

some-thing in a particular place

ocean ["o S@n] n a large body of

salt water that covers ¾ of the

earth’s surface, or one of that

body’s four divisions: the Arctic

Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the

Indian Ocean, and the Pacific

Ocean

anocean of someone or something

Go to oceans of someone or something.

oceans of someone or something

and an ocean of someone or

something a very large number of

people or things

o’clock [@ "klak] adv a word used

to indicate the time of day (It

fol-lows a number from 1 to 12 and

means that it is that time exactly,

or zero minutes past the hour

Lit-erally, of the clock.)

octagon ["ak t@ gan] n a flat figure

or shape with eight sides

octave ["ak tIv] n a musical

inter-val of two notes where the higher

note is twelve half tones above the

lower note; [on a piano] the first

and eighth key in a row of eight

white keys

October [ak "to b#] Go to month octopi ["ak t@ paI] a plural of

octopus

octopus ["ak t@ p@s] n., irreg a

boneless sea creature with eight legs (Greek for “eight-footed.”

The English plural is octopuses or

octopi.)

odd ["ad] 1 adj strange; different;

unusual; out of place (Adv: oddly.

Comp: odder; sup: oddest.) 2 adj.

not even; [of a number] not able

to be divided by two without an amount (one) being left over

3 adj not regular; [of occasions

or events] random; occasional

(Prenominal only Comp: odder; sup: oddest.)

odd man out an unusual or

atypi-cal person or thing

oddity ["ad @ ti] 1 n the state of

being unusual or strange (No

plu-ral.) 2 n something that is odd;

something that is unusual or strange

theodds are against one one’s

chances are slim; there is little chance of one succeeding; the sit-uation is not favorable to one

odor ["o d#] n a smell; a scent; an

aroma

of [@v] 1 prep belonging to

some-one; owned by somesome-one; closely associated with someone (Takes a nominal in the possessive form Pronouns that can follow ofin this

sense are mine, yours, his, hers,

ours, and theirs.) 2 prep

con-nected to someone or something; relating to someone or something; associated with someone or some-thing; representing someone or

of

393

something; being a portion or part

from something 3 prep made

from something 4 prep

contain-ing somethcontain-ing; includcontain-ing someone

or something; having people or

things as the members or parts

5 prep a preposition expressing a

measurement or an amount

6 prep a preposition linking a

type of location to the name of a

location 7 prep referring to

someone or something; about

someone or something;

concern-ing someone or somethconcern-ing

8 prep having a certain quality or

aspect 9 prep before a certain

hour

of all the nerve how shocking;

how dare (someone) (The speaker

is exclaiming that someone is

being very insolent or rude.)

of interest (to someone)

interest-ing to someone

of the first water of the finest

quality (Originally a

measure-ment of the quality of a pearl.)

off ["Of] 1 prep away from

some-one or something; not on somesome-one

or something (Q through R are

often off of, a construction

objected to by some.) 2 prep less

than something; deducted from

something 3 prep leading away

from a place or path; turning from

a place or path; connecting to a

place or path 4 prep in or over

the water near land 5 adj.

stopped; not being used; causing

something not to function or

operate, especially by stopping the

flow of electricity (Not

prenomi-nal.) 6 adj wrong; not accurate.

(Not prenominal.) 7 adj

can-celed (Not prenominal.) 8 adj.

[of a time period] free of work (Not prenominal.)

off base unrealistic; inexact;

wrong

off campus not located within the

campus of a college or university

off duty not working at one’s job off the air [relating to radio or

television stations and programs] not broadcasting or being broad-cast

off the record unofficial;

infor-mal

off the subject not concerned

with the subject being discussed

off the top of one’s head [to state

something] rapidly and without having to think or remember

off to a running start with a

good, fast beginning

off-color 1 not the exact color (that one wants) 2 rude, vulgar,

or impolite

offend [@ "fEnd] tv to shock

some-one, especially through one’s actions, attitude, or behavior

offense 1 [@ "fEns] n the breaking

of a law; a crime; an illegal act

2 [@ "fEns] n something that

is shocking or disgusting

3 ["O fEns] n a way of attacking;

an attack

offensive 1 [@ "fEn sIv] adj

shock-ing; annoyshock-ing; offending someone

(Adv: offensively.) 2 ["O fEn sIv]

adj of or about attacking (Adv:

offensively.) 3 [@ "fEn sIv] n an

attack

offer ["Of #] 1 tv to present

some-thing that can be taken or refused

of all the nerve

394

2 tv to propose a price for

some-thing that is being sold 3 n.

something that is offeredas in Q

4 n a price or amount that is

offeredas in W

offer to do something to indicate

that one is willing to do

some-thing

offering ["Of # IN] n something

that is offered, especially to a

church, to a charity, or as part of a

religious ceremony

office ["Of Is] 1 n a room—usually

assigned to one person—where

business is done 2 n the

com-bined workplaces of a number of

people 3 n a position of power

and responsibility, especially in a

government or an organization

→ do a land-office business

→ home office

→ post office

office hours ["Of Is aU #z] n the

times when an office is open

(Treated as singular or plural

Rarely singular.)

officer ["O f@ s#] n someone in a

position of authority, especially in

the military, the government, or

some other organization

→ police officer

official [@ "fI S@l] 1 n an officer;

someone in a position of

author-ity 2 adj of or about the power,

authority, and responsibility of an

office or an officer (Adv:

offi-cially.)

offshore ["Of "Sor] adj located or

occurring in, on, or over the water

away from the shore

offspring ["Of sprIN] n [a person’s]

child or children; [an animal’s]

young (No plural Treated as sin-gular or plural.)

offstage ["Of "stedZ] 1 adj next to

the visible part of the stage of a theater, but not visible to the audi-ence 2 adv at, to, or toward the

area next to the visible part of the stage

often ["Of @n] adv frequently;

hap-pening many times

oh ["o] interj a form expressing

sur-prise or other feelings

oil ["oIl] 1 n a slick, greasy liquid

that does not dissolve in water (Plural only for types and instances.) 2 tv to put lubrication

on something using Q; to make something slippery by putting Q

on it; to put Q on something

→ burn the midnight oil

→ pour oil on troubled water

oilcan ["oIl kAn] n a can that is

used to apply oil as lubrication

oily ["oIl i] adj made of oil;

con-taining oil; soaked with oil

(Comp: oilier; sup: oiliest.)

oink ["oINk] 1 n the sound made

by a pig 2 iv to make the sound

of a pig

ointment ["oInt m@nt] n a

sub-stance that is put on the skin to heal it, soothe it, or soften it

→ fly in the ointment

okay and OK [o "ke] 1 adv all right; adequately 2 adv to a

degree of intensity below “very

good” but above “poor.” 3 adj.

just good, but not excellent

4 interj a word used to confirm

that one understands something

5 n approval 6 tv to approve

something

okay

395