swept ["swEpt] past tense and past participle ofsweep.. Past tense: swam;past participle: swum.. [for some-thing] to seem to spin or revolve, owing to one’s illness or the loss of one’s
Trang 1sweet tooth ["swit tuT] n a liking
for candy, chocolate, or other
sweet foods (Always singular.)
sweeten ["swit n] tv to cause
something to become sweet; to
add sugar to something
sweets n candy; pieces of
some-thing made with sugar or honey
(Treated as plural.)
swell ["swEl] 1 iv., irreg to grow
larger; to grow fuller; to rise or
grow past the regular amount
(Past tense: swelled; past
partici-ple: swelled or swollen.) 2 iv.,
irreg to increase in size, amount,
or intensity 3 tv., irreg to cause
someone or something to grow
larger or fuller; to increase
some-thing in size, amount, or intensity
4 n the rise and fall of waves.
swell up to enlarge; to inflate; to
bulge out
swelter ["swEl t#] iv to suffer in
very hot weather
swept ["swEpt] past tense and past
participle ofsweep.
swift ["swIft] adj rapid; quick;
moving or passing fast (Adv:
swiftly Comp: swifter; sup:
swiftest.)
swim ["swIm] 1 iv., irreg [for
someone] to travel through water
by moving arms and legs; [for an
animal] to travel through water by
moving paws, legs, fins, tail, etc
(Past tense: swam;past participle:
swum.) 2 iv., irreg [for
some-thing] to seem to spin or revolve,
owing to one’s illness or the loss of
one’s ability to properly perceive
3 n an instance of traveling
through the water by moving one’s arms and legs
→ be swimming in something
→ make someone’shead swim
→ sink or swim
→ swimming pool
swim against the current Go to
swim against the tide.
swim against the tide and swim against the current to do the
opposite of everyone else; to go against the trend
swimming pool ["swIm IN "pUl] n.
a container or tank that holds water for people to swim or play
in (Can be shortened to pool.)
swimsuit ["swIm sut] n a piece of
clothing worn for sunning or swimming; the clothing worn by someone who swims
swindle ["swIn d@l] 1 tv to cheat
someone, especially to cheat
someone out of money 2 n.
cheating; cheating people out of their money
swine ["swaIn] 1 n., irreg a hog or
a pig (Plural: swine.) 2 n., irreg.
someone who is disgusting, unpleasant, or contemptible (Fig-urative on Q.)
→ cast (one’s) pearls before swine
swing ["swIN] 1 tv., irreg to move
something in a sweeping or curved pattern (Past tense and past par-ticiple: swung.) 2 tv., irreg to move something in a sweeping or
circular movement 3 iv., irreg to
move in a sweeping or curved
pat-tern 4 iv., irreg to move while hanging from a fixed point 5 iv.,
irreg to turn suddenly or quickly.
6 iv., irreg to play on I; to move
one’s body through the air on a I sweet tooth
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Trang 27 n a change; a variation 8 n a
seat that hangs on ropes or chains,
which moves people, usually
chil-dren, back and forth
→ get into the swing of things
→ in full swing
swish something off ((of )
one or something) to brush
some-thing off someone or somesome-thing
switch ["swItS] 1 n a lever that
turns electricity on and off 2 n a
change from one thing to another
3 n a thin, flexible stick that is
cut from a tree 4 tv to change
something; to swap or exchange
things
→ asleep at the switch
switch back (to something) 1 to
return to using or doing
some-thing 2 [for a road] to reverse
upon itself
switch off 1 [for something] to
turn itself off 2 [for someone] to
stop paying attention
(Figura-tive.)
switch someone or something off
to cause someone or something to
be quiet or stop doing something
switch something back (to
some-thing) to return something to the
way it was
switch something on to cause
something electrical to start
func-tioning or operating by using a
switch
switch something on and switch
something off to close or open an
electric circuit; to turn something
on or off
switchboard ["swItS bord] n a
control panel that an operator uses
to connect telephone calls to the proper person
swollen ["swol @n] 1 Past
partici-ple ofswell 2 adj puffed up; having gotten bigger; growing in
size (Adv: swollenly.)
swoop ["swup] n a dive through
the air
→ at one fell swoop
→ in one fell swoop
swoop down (up)on someone or
something to dive or plunge down-ward on someone or something (Both literal and figurative uses.)
sword ["sord] n a heavy metal
weapon with a long, usually sharp blade attached to a handle
→ cross swords (with someone)
swore ["swor] past tense ofswear.
sworn ["sworn] Past participle of
swear.
swum ["sw^m] past participle of
swim.
swung ["sw^N] past tense and past
participle ofswing.
syllable ["sIl @ b@l] n an
uninter-rupted segment of speech consist-ing of a vowel possibly with consonants on one or both sides
symbol ["sIm b@l] 1 n something
that represents something else; something that stands for
some-thing else 2 n a letter, number,
or shape that represents a quan-tity, chemical element, mathemat-ical operation, or other function
symmetry ["sIm @ tri] n the
arrangement of the opposite sides
of something so that they look exactly alike (No plural.)
symmetry
617
Trang 3sympathy ["sIm p@ Ti] n kind
feel-ings for someone having problems
and sorrows
→ one’sdeepest sympathy
symphony ["sIm f@ ni] n a long
piece of music written for an
orchestra
symptom ["sImp t@m] n a sign,
feeling, or problem that is
evi-dence of the existence of
some-thing, especially of an illness
synagogue and synagog ["sIn @
gag] n a building for worship in
the Jewish religion
synonym ["sI n@ nIm] n a word
that has the same or almost the
same meaning as another word
syphon ["saI f@n] Go to siphon.
syringe [s@ "rIndZ] n a device from
which liquids are pushed out or into which liquids are pulled, usu-ally through a long, thin needle
syrup ["sIr @p] n a thick, sweet
liq-uid eaten as food or used to deliver medication (Plural only for types and instances.)
system ["sIs t@m] 1 n a group of
things that work together to form
a network; a group of things arranged in a particular way that
function as one thing 2 n a
method of arrangement; a plan
systematic [sIs t@ "mAt Ik] adj.
organized and structured; based
on a system or plan (Adv: system-atically [ Ik li].)
sympathy
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Trang 4tab ["tAb] 1 n a small flap that
sticks out from the edge of a sheet
of paper, cardboard, or something
similar 2 n a bill that is
pre-sented to a customer for payment
→ pick up the tab
table ["teb @l] 1 n an item of
fur-niture whose top is a raised, flat
surface supported by legs 2 n a
chart of numbers, facts, or data
presented in columns or rows
→ clear the table
→ lay one’scards on the table
→ put one’scards on the table
→ set the table
→ under the table
table a motion to postpone the
discussion of something during a
meeting
table of contents ["teb @l @v "kan
tEnts] n a list at the beginning of
a book, showing what is in the
book and the page number of each
part
tablecloth ["teb @l klOT] n a piece
of fabric that covers the top of a
table and hangs over the sides, for
decoration or protection of the
table’s surface
tablet ["tAb l@t] 1 n a pad of
paper; blank sheets of paper that
are bound together along the top
or side 2 n a pill; a small, hard
piece of medicine, drugs, or
vita-mins that a person swallows
tack ["tAk] 1 n a small, thin nail
with a large head (See also
thumb-tack.) 2 n a course of action that
is different from an earlier one; an
attempt to do something after
ear-lier attempts have not worked
3 n the direction that a ship
trav-els as the result of the wind and the way that its sails are arranged
→ get down to brass tacks
tackle ["tAk @l] 1 tv to run after,
dive onto, and throw a person to the ground, especially in the game
of football 2 tv to undertake a duty or a problem; to start work-ing on somethwork-ing difficult (Figu-rative on Q.) 3 n equipment used for fishing (No plural.)
tact ["tAkt] n the ability to deal
with people without offending them (No plural.)
tactful ["tAkt fUl] adj showing or
having tact (Adv: tactfully.)
tactic ["tAk tIk] n a skillful way of
doing something in order to reach
a goal (Often plural.)
tag ["tAg] 1 n a small label that
has information about the object
that it is attached to 2 n a game
in which a players run around try-ing to touch someone else, who then runs to touch another person (No plural.) 3 tv to put Q on
something or some creature 4 tv.
to touch someone, especially in W
tag along to go along with or
fol-low someone, often when unin-vited or unwanted (Informal.)
tail ["tel] 1 n the part of an animal
that hangs off from its back, as an
extension of the spine 2 n the
rear part of something; the last part of something (Figurative on Q.)
→ can’t make heads or tails (out)
of someone or something
→ have one’stail between one’slegs
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Copyright 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
Trang 5→ in two shakes of a lamb’s tail
→ one’stail is between one’slegs
the tail wagging the dog [a
situa-tion in which] a small part [is]
controlling the whole thing
tailor ["te l#] 1 n someone who
makes or repairs clothes 2 tv to
make or repair an item of clothing
so that it fits a certain person
tailspin n a sudden spinning or
period of confusion
→ go into a tailspin
take ["tek] 1 tv., irreg to get or
obtain something by one’s own
action (Past tense: took;past
par-ticiple: taken.) 2 tv., irreg to
accept something that is offered
3 tv., irreg to capture something;
to win something 4 tv., irreg to
eat or swallow something, such as
medicine 5 tv., irreg to use
something on a regular basis; to
require something as a habit
6 tv., irreg to transport someone
or something somewhere 7 tv.,
irreg to use a form of
tion, especially public
transporta-tion 8 tv., irreg to lead someone
or something; to guide someone or
something 9 tv., irreg to record
something; to make a picture with
a camera 10 tv., irreg to interpret
something in a certain way 11 tv.,
irreg to observe the measurement
of something 12 tv., irreg to
suf-fer something; to endure
some-thing; to accept something 13 tv.,
irreg to use up time; to consume
time; to require that an amount of
time be spent [doing something]
→ as a duck takes to water
→ more than onecan take
→ sit up and take notice
→ That takes care of that.
take a backseat (to someone) to
give control to someone
take a course (in something) to
enroll in a course and do the required work
take a leaf out of someone’s book to behave or to do
some-thing in the way that someone else
would (A leaf is a page.)
take a load off one’s feet Go to
get a load off one’sfeet.
take a look for someone or thing and have a look for
some-one or something to make a visual search for someone or something;
to look for someone or something
take a nap to sleep for a period of
time during the day
take a nosedive Go to go into a
nosedive.
take a peep Go to have a peep take a secret to one’s grave Go to
carry a secret to the grave.
take a shot at something Go to
give somethinga shot.
take a vacation to go somewhere
for a vacation; to stop work to have a vacation
take advantage of someone to use
someone unfairly for one’s own benefit
take advantage of something to
make good use of something; to benefit from something; to benefit from an opportunity
take an oath to make an oath;to promise something as with an oath.
take attendance to make a record
of persons attending something tail wagging the dog
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Trang 6take care of someone or something
1 to deal with someone or
thing; to handle or manage
some-one or something 2 to provide
care for someone or something
take cold Go to catch cold.
take forty winks to take a nap; to
go to sleep
take heed ["tek "hid] to be careful;
to take care and watch for danger
take inventory to make an
inven-tory list
take it or leave it to accept
some-thing the way it is or not have it at
all
take off 1 to take flight 2 [for
someone] to leave (Colloquial.)
3 to become active and exciting.
(Colloquial.)
take off from something to take
flight from something or
some-place
take one’s cue from someone to
use someone else’s behavior or
reactions as a guide to one’s own
take one’s death (of cold) Go to
catch one’sdeath (of cold).
take one’s medicine to accept the
punishment that one deserves
(Also used literally.)
take out a loan to get a loan of
money, especially from a bank
take out after someone or
some-thing to set out chasing or running
after someone or something
take over (from someone) to
assume the role or job of someone
else
take pride in something to do
something with pride; to have
pride for or about something
take shape [for something, such as
plans, writing, ideas, arguments, etc.] to become organized and specific
take someone by surprise to
star-tle someone; to surprise someone with something unexpected
take someone hostage to kidnap
or seize someone to be a hostage
take someone in 1 to give some-one shelter 2 to deceive somesome-one take someone or something at face value to accept someone or
some-thing as actually being the way the person or thing appears to be
take someone or something away
to remove someone or something
take someone or something by storm to overwhelm someone or
something; to attract a great deal
of attention from someone or something
take someone or something for granted to accept someone or
something—without gratitude
take someone or something off (something) to remove someone or
something from the surface of something else
take someone or something on to
agree to deal with someone or something; to begin to handle someone or something
take someone or something out (of something) to carry, lead, or guide
someone or something out of something or someplace
take someone under one’s wing(s) to take over the
responsi-bility of caring for a person take someone under one’s wing(s)
621
Trang 7take someone’s breath away to
overwhelm someone with beauty
or grandeur
take someone’s part to take
some-one’s side in an argument; to
sup-port someone in an argument
take someone’s pulse to measure
the frequency of the beats of the
heart
take something apart to break
something to pieces
take something down (in
some-thing) to write something down in
something, such as a notebook
take something in 1 to reduce the
size of a garment 2 to bring
something or a creature into
shel-ter 3 to view and study
some-thing; to attend something
involving viewing 4 to receive
money as payment or proceeds
5 to receive something into the
mind, usually visually
take something in stride to accept
something as natural or expected
take something lying down to
endure something unpleasant
without fighting back
take something off to remove
something, such as an article of
clothing
take something on faith to accept
or believe something on the basis
of little or no evidence
take something on the chin to
experience and endure a direct
blow or assault
take something over 1 to assume
responsibility for a task 2 to
acquire all of an asset or a
prob-lem
take something personally to
interpret a remark as if it were mean or critical about oneself
take something up 1 [for someone
or a group] to decide to discuss a
particular topic 2 to raise
some-thing, such as the height of a hem
3 to continue with something after an interruption 4 to begin
something; to start to acquire a skill in something
take something with a grain of salt Go to take somethingwith a pinch of salt.
take something with a pinch of salt and take something with a grain of salt to listen to a story
or an explanation with consider-able doubt
take the bitter with the sweet
to accept the bad things along with the good things
take the bull by the horns to
meet a challenge directly
take the law into one’s own hands to attempt to administer
the law oneself; to act as a judge and jury for someone who has done something wrong
take (the) roll Go to call (the)
roll.
take the stand to go to and sit in
the witness chair on the witness stand in a courtroom in prepara-tion to testify
take the words (right) out of one’s mouth [for someone else]
to say what one was about to say oneself
take to one’s heels to run away.
take someone’s breath away
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Trang 8take too much on to accept too
many tasks; to accept a task that is
too big a burden for one
take up one’s abode somewhere
to settle down and live
some-where (Literary.)
taken ["tek @n] past participle of
take.
takeoff ["tek Of] n [an airplane’s]
leaving the ground and flying
tale ["tel] 1 n a story 2 n a lie.
→ tall tale
→ tell its own tale
→ tell tales out of school
talent ["tAl @nt] 1 n a special skill;
a natural ability 2 n people who
have a special skill or a natural
ability, especially singers or actors;
people employed or seeking
employment in the entertainment
industry (No plural Treated as
singular.)
talk ["tOk] 1 iv to communicate by
speaking; to speak; to say words
2 iv to speak with someone; to
have a conversation with someone
3 n the production of words;
speech (No plural.) 4 n a
con-versation; a chat with someone
5 n a speech; a lecture 6 n
gos-sip; rumors (No plural.)
→ like to hear oneselftalk
→ Money talks.
→ small talk
talk a blue streak to say a lot and
talk very rapidly
talk around something to talk, but
avoid talking directly about the
subject
talk back (to someone) to
chal-lenge verbally a parent, an older
person, or one’s superior
talk in circles to talk in a
confus-ing or roundabout manner
talk of the town the subject of
gossip; someone or something that everyone is talking about
talk oneself out to talk until one
can talk no more
talk shop to talk about business
matters at a social event (where business talk is not welcome)
talk show ["tOk "So] 1 n a radio or
television program devoted to conversation and opinion by dif-ferent people 2 the adj use of Q (Hyphenated.)
talk someone into something to
convince someone to do some-thing through discussion
talk something out to settle
some-thing by discussion
talk something up to promote or
advertise something by saying good things about it to as many people as possible
talk through one’s hat to talk
non-sense; to brag and boast
talk until one is blue in the face
to talk until one is exhausted
talks n conversations held for the
purpose of negotiating something
tall ["tOl] 1 adj great in height; of a
greater height than average; not
short (E.g., the tree is tall; the tall tree Comp: taller; sup: tallest.)
2 adj extending a certain distance
upward; reaching a certain
dis-tance above the ground (E.g., the tree is 30 feet tall Comp: taller; sup: tallest.)
tall
623
Trang 9tall story and tall tale a story that
is difficult or impossible to
believe; a lie
tall tale Go to tall story.
tally ["tAl i] n a score; a mark used
to keep track of the number of
something being counted; the
number of points or votes
some-one or something has received
tally something (up) to count the
number of votes or points that
someone or something has
received
tally (with an amount) [for an
amount] to match another
amount; [for two amounts] to be
equal
tame ["tem] 1 adj not in a natural,
wild state; living with people;
being gentle rather than fierce
(Adv: tamely Comp: tamer; sup:
tamest.) 2 adj not shocking; not
wild; not exciting; dull (Figurative
on Q Adv: tamely Comp: tamer;
sup: tamest.)
tan ["tAn] 1 iv [especially of
peo-ple with fair skin] to permit one’s
skin to darken by being outdoors
in sunlight or by exposing oneself
to artificial sunlight 2 tv to
change the skin of an animal into
leather by soaking it in a special
chemical 3 n darkness of the
skin from exposure to sunlight as
in Q 4 n a light brown color.
5 adj light brown in color.
(Comp: tanner; sup: tannest.)
tandem ["tAn d@m] adj [of two or
more people or things] in
sequence, one behind another
(Adv: tandemly.)
→ in tandem
tangent ["tAn dZ@nt] n a line that
touches a circle at only one point
→ go off on a tangent
tangerine [tAn dZ@ "rin] 1 n a
small, orange citrus fruit; a kind of orange whose peel is easy to remove 2 the adj use of Q
tangle ["tAN g@l] 1 n a twisted
clump of hair, string, chain, rope,
limbs, etc 2 n an argument; a disagreement 3 iv [for strands]
to become twisted together 4 tv.
to twist strands together; to snarl something
tank ["tANk] 1 n a container for
storing air or liquid (See also fish tank.) 2 n a large vehicle, used by the military, that moves on heavy belts wrapped around a set of wheels
tantrum ["tAn tr@m] n a bad
dis-play of temper and emotion (Short for temper tantrum.)
→ temper tantrum
tap ["tAp] 1 n a slight pressure or
a very light blow made by
some-thing 2 n a device that controls
the flow of a gas or a liquid from a
pipe or a barrel; a faucet 3 tv to
touch someone or something gen-tly a number of times, especially with the tip of one’s finger 4 tv
to cut something open so that liq-uid will flow out; to pierce some-thing, such as a barrel, so that liquid will flow out
tape ["tep] 1 n a paper or plastic
strip with one side that is sticky, used to stick something to some-thing else (Plural only for types and instances.) 2 n a magnetic strip of plastic onto which sound
or images can be recorded (No tall story
624
TLFeBOOK
Trang 10plural.) 3 n a reel or cassette of
W; something recorded on a reel
or cassette of W 4 tv to stick
something to something else with
Q; to seal something with Q
5 tv to fix something that is torn
by placing Q over the tear 6 tv.
to record sound or images onto W
7 iv to make a sound or video
recording; to record
→ red tape
taper off to slacken off gradually;
to cease something gradually; to
reduce gradually
tar ["tar] 1 n a black substance
similar to very thick oil, used to
preserve or waterproof objects
(No plural.) 2 tv to cover
some-thing with Q; to preserve or
waterproof something with Q
tardy ["tar di] adj late; not prompt;
not on time (Adv: tardily Comp:
tardier; sup: tardiest.)
target ["tar g@t] 1 n someone or
something that someone tries to
hit or shoot when using a weapon
2 n someone who is ridiculed,
blamed, or made fun of
(Figura-tive on Q.) 3 n a goal that one
would like to reach; an aim
(Figu-rative on Q.) 4 tv to establish
something as a goal 5 tv to focus
on someone, something, or
some-place; to give something, someone,
or someplace the greatest amount
of thought or effort
→ on target
→ sitting target
tariff ["tEr If] 1 n a tax that a
gov-ernment charges on products
entering or leaving a country 2 n.
the cost of a service, such as the
service provided by a utility
tarred with the same brush
hav-ing the same faults or bad points
as someone else
task ["tAsk] n a duty; an errand; a
responsibility; a chore; an item of work that someone must do, espe-cially a difficult one
task force ["tAsk fors] n a group
of people who are given a certain task, such as a military group that has a certain mission
taste ["test] 1 n the ability to
sense or experience sweetness, saltiness, bitterness, or sourness with one’s tongue (No plural.)
2 n a particular flavor as experi-enced through Q 3 n a small sample of food or drink 4 n the
quality of one’s choice or selection
in beauty, fashion, or art; the abil-ity to judge what is suitable or fit-ting (Plural only for types and instances.) 5 tv to sense or expe-rience flavor with one’s tongue
6 tv to put something in one’s
mouth or on one’s tongue so that one can know its flavor; to eat a very small amount of something
so one can know its flavor 7 tv to experience something for a short
while 8 iv [for a food] to have a
particular flavor
→ have a taste for something
→ in bad taste
→ in poor taste
→ leave a bad taste in someone’s mouth
a taste of something 1 a taste E
taken in order to sample
some-thing 2 a limited experience of
something; a sample
tasteless ["test l@s] 1 adj having
no taste W; having no flavor;
bland (Adv: tastelessly.) 2 adj.
tasteless
625