NTC''''s Pocket Dictionary of Words and Phrases part 73 ppt

Past tense: waked or woke;past participle: waked or woken.. to clean [oneself or some part of oneself] with water or some other liquid.. → come out in the wash wash away to be carried aw

wait for someone or something to

anticipate the arrival of someone

or something

wait on someone to serve someone

as a waiter or waitress or as a clerk

behind a counter

wait on someone hand and foot

to serve someone very well,

attending to all personal needs

wait up (for someone or

some-thing) 1 to slow down and pause

for someone or something to catch

up 2 to delay going to bed for

someone or something or until

someone or something does

some-thing

wait (up)on someone to pay

hom-age to someone, as with a king or

queen or other ruler

wait-and-see attitude a skeptical

attitude; an uncertain attitude

where someone will wait to see

what happens before reacting

waiter ["we t#] n a man who

serves customers at a restaurant

waiting in the wings ready or

prepared to do something,

espe-cially to take over someone else’s

job or position

waitress ["we trIs] n a woman

who serves customers at a

restau-rant

waive ["wev] 1 tv to give up

some-thing, especially a right or a

privi-lege (Compare this to wave.) 2 tv.

to allow someone not to have to do

something that is usually required;

to excuse someone from fulfilling

a requirement

wake ["wek] 1 n a gathering,

shortly before a funeral, of the

friends and relatives of someone who has recently died 2 n the path on the surface of a body of water caused by a boat or ship traveling through the water 3 Go

to wake (up).

wake someone or some creature (up) to cause someone or some

creature to stop sleeping

wake the dead to be so loud as to

wake those who are “sleeping” the most soundly—thedead.

wake (up) 1 to stop sleeping iv.

(Past tense: waked or woke;past

participle: waked or woken.) 2 iv.

to become alert; to pay attention (Usually a command.)

waken ["wek @n] 1 iv to wake from sleep; to stop sleeping 2 tv.

to wake someone or something from sleep

walk ["wOk] 1 iv to move on foot

at a normal speed and in a way that only one foot at a time is on the ground 2 tv to move in, on,

or through a space as in Q 3 tv.

to exercise an animal, usually a

dog, by taking it for T 4 tv to go

with someone to a certain place

5 n an act ofwalking as in Q, especially as exercise or for

pleas-ure; a journey on foot 6 n a path;

a place where one can walkQ

→ all walks of life

→ cock of the walk

→ within walking distance

walk a tightrope to be in a

situa-tion where one must be very cau-tious

walk away with something and walk off with something 1 to

wait for someone or something

686

steal something 2 to win

some-thing easily

walk in on someone or something

to interrupt someone or

some-thing by entering a place

walk off to walk away; to leave on

foot abruptly

walk off with something Go to

walk away with something.

walk on air to be very happy; to

feel very good about something

walk on eggs to be very cautious.

walk out (of something) 1 to exit

something or someplace 2 to exit

one’s workplace on strike

walk out (on someone or

thing) to leave or abandon

some-one or something in anger,

disgust, or aversion

walk the floor to pace nervously

while waiting

wall ["wOl] 1 n the side of a room

from the floor to the ceiling; the

side of a building from the ground

to the roof 2 n a large, flat side

of anything; anything that looks

like Q 3 n a thin tissue that

encloses a part of the body of a

human, plant, or animal

→ bang one’shead against a brick

wall

→ beat one’shead against the wall

→ drive someoneto the wall

→ force someoneto the wall

→ go to the wall

→ have one’sback to the wall

→ one’sback is to the wall

→ press someoneto the wall

→ push someoneto the wall

→ run into a stone wall

→ see the (hand)writing on the

wall

wallet ["wal @t] n a small, flat case

that is used for carrying money, identification, credit cards, etc (Often made of leather.)

wallpaper ["wOl pe p#] 1 n paper,

usually with a design on it, that is used to cover and decorate walls (No plural.) 2 tv to cover a wall

with Q 3 iv to apply Q to a wall;

to put up Q

Walls have ears We may be

over-heard

walnut ["wOl n@t] 1 n the tree that

produces a delicious, edible nut

2 n the nut of Q; the nut of Q and its shell 3 n wood from Q.

(Plural only for types and

instances.) 4 adj made with W or

from E

waltz ["wOlts] 1 n a dance, with

three beats to every measure of music, in which couples turn in a circle as they dance around the dance floor 2 n music that has three beats to every measure and is written for Q or suitable for Q

3 iv to dance Q.

wander ["wan d#] iv to travel in

no specific direction; to roam somewhere

wane ["wen] 1 iv to become less

important, less strong, less intense,

or smaller 2 iv [for the moon] to

gradually appear to be smaller after a full moon (Compare this with wax R.)

want ["want] 1 tv to desire to have someone or something 2 n a

desire; a need; something that

someone would like to have 3 n a

lack (No plural.)

→ know when one is not wanted

want

687

→ Waste not, want not.

want for nothing to lack nothing;

to have everything one needs or

desires

want in((to) something) to want to

come into something or

some-place

want out (of something) 1 to

desire to get out of something or

someplace 2 to desire to be

relieved of a responsibility

want someone or something out of

something to desire that someone

or something leave or be removed

from something or someplace

want to do something to desire to

do something; to wish to do

some-thing

war ["wor] n fighting or conflict

between two or more nations,

especially involving a military

force of one country attacking

another country (Plural only for

types and instances.)

ward ["word] 1 n someone,

espe-cially a child, who is under the

protection of the state, the

govern-ment, a judge, or someone chosen

by a court 2 n a political division

of a city, especially one that is

rep-resented by someone in a city

council 3 n a section of a

hospi-tal, usually containing the beds for

patients having similar medical

conditions

warden ["word n] n someone who

is in charge of a prison or jail

→ game warden

wardrobe ["wor drob] 1 n a

col-lection of clothes 2 n a piece of

furniture that looks like a large

box with a door, and is used to store clothing

warehouse ["wEr haUs] 1 n., irreg.

a place where large amounts of goods are stored before they are sold or used (Plural: [ haU z@z].) 2 tv to store something in Q

warm ["worm] 1 adj somewhat

hot; not too hot but not cold

(Adv: warmly Comp: warmer; sup: warmest.) 2 adj capable of retaining heat (Adv: warmly Comp: warmer; sup: warmest.)

3 adj pleasant; friendly;

indicat-ing that one is pleasant or friendly

(Adv: warmly Comp: warmer; sup: warmest.)

warm oneself up to help oneself get

physically prepared to perform in

an athletic event

warm someone or something (up)

to cause someone or something to become warm

warm the bench [for a player] to

remain out of play during a game—seated on a bench

warm (up) [for the weather or a

person] to become warmer or hot-ter

warm up (for something) to

pre-pare for some kind of perfor-mance or competition

warm up to someone or something

to become more fervent and earnest toward someone, some-thing, or a group; to become more responsive and receptive to some-one, a group, or something

warmth ["wormT] 1 n a small amount of heat (No plural.) 2 n.

want for nothing

688

kindness; pleasantness;

friendli-ness (No plural.)

warn ["worn] 1 tv to alert

some-one to danger; to inform somesome-one

about something dangerous or

risky 2 tv to tell someone not to

do something, implying that

pun-ishment will follow repeated

viola-tions

warn someone against someone or

something to advise someone

against someone, something, or

doing something

warn someone away from

one or something to advise

some-one to avoid somesome-one or

something

warn someone off to advise a

per-son to stay away

warning ["wor nIN] n something

that warns; a statement, sign, or

threat of danger

warranty ["war @n ti] n an official

guarantee; a written promise from

a manufacturer that something

will function in the way that it is

supposed to

warrior ["wor j#] n someone who

is trained to fight; a soldier; a

fighter

warship ["w# SIp] n a ship

equipped with weapons for

mak-ing war

wart ["wort] n a hard, ugly bump

that swells from the skin,

espe-cially on the face, neck, and hands

warts and all including all faults

and disadvantages

wary ["wEr i] adj aware; on guard

against harm or danger; careful

(Adv: warily Comp: warier; sup:

wariest.)

was ["w^z, "waz, w@z] iv a past

tense ofbeused with the first and third persons singular

wash ["waS] 1 tv to clean someone

or something with water or some

other liquid 2 tv to remove dirt

through the use of water or some

other liquid 3 tv [for water] to carry or move something 4 iv to

clean [oneself or some part of oneself] with water or some other liquid 5 iv to be carried or

moved by water 6 n laundry;

clothes that need to be, are being,

or have been cleaned as in Q; clothes that are cleaned as in Q together at one time (No plural.)

7 n an act or instance of cleaning

or being cleaned as in Q, W, or R

→ come out in the wash

wash away to be carried away by

water or some other liquid

wash off ((of ) someone or some-thing) to be carried off of or away

from someone or something by the action of water or another liquid

wash one’s dirty linen in public

to discuss one’s personal problems

in public

wash one’s hands of someone or

something to end one’s association with someone or something

wash someone or something away

[for a flood of water] to carry someone or something away

wash someone or something off to

clean someone or something by washing

wash someone or something off

689

wash something away to clean

something by scrubbing and

flush-ing away the dirt

wash something off ((of ) someone

or something) to clean something

off someone or something

washcloth ["waS klOT] n., irreg a

small cloth used for washing one’s

body, especially the face (Plural:

["waS klODz].)

washer ["waS #] 1 n a washing

machine; a machine that washes

clothing 2 n a small, flat circle of

metal or rubber, with a hole in the

center, that is put under the head

of a bolt or screw or between a nut

and a bolt to make a tighter seal

washroom ["waS rum] n a

bath-room; a restbath-room; a room with a

toilet

wasn’t ["w^z @nt] cont was not.

wasp ["wasp] n a large stinging

insect that is similar to a bee but is

able to sting again and again

waste ["west] 1 tv to use

some-thing foolishly or wrongly; to use

too much of something 2 n

gar-bage; trash; something that is not

used and is thrown away (No

plu-ral.) 3 n a poor or foolish use of

something; the failure to use all of

the parts of something that are

able to be used (No plural.) 4 n

material that is sent out from the

body; urine and feces (Sometimes

plural with the same meaning, but

not countable.)

→ lay somethingto waste

→ lay waste to something

Waste not, want not a saying

meaning that if one never wastes

anything, one will never be short

of anything

waste one’s breath to waste one’s

time talking; to talk in vain

wastebasket ["west bAs kIt] n a

container that is used to hold trash

wastepaper ["west pe p#] n paper

that is not needed and is thrown away or reused (No plural.)

wastepaper basket ["west pe p#

"bAs k@t] n a container for receiv-ing wastepaper

watch ["watS] 1 tv to observe

something as it happens; to pay someone or something attention;

to look at someone or something

to see what happens 2 tv to guard someone or something; to protect someone or something

3 iv to pay attention to someone

or something; to look at someone

or something carefully and atten-tively 4 n a device, typically worn on one’s wrist, that displays the time

→ bear watching

watch one’s step to act with care

and caution so as not to make a mistake or offend someone

watch out (for someone or thing) to keep looking for

some-one or something

watch over someone or something

to monitor or guard someone or something

watch someone like a hawk to

watch someone very carefully

water ["wOt #] 1 n the liquid that

forms oceans, lakes, and rivers; the liquid that falls from the sky as rain and is drunk by humans and wash something away

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animals (No plural.) 2 n the

sur-face of a body of Q (E.g., the

water ref lected the image of the

clouds No plural.) 3 tv to provide

a plant with Q; to put Q on the

soil around a plant 4 iv [for one’s

eyes] to fill with tears 5 iv [for

one’s mouth] to fill with moisture,

especially when one is about to eat

or is thinking about eating food

→ as a duck takes to water

→ dash cold water on something

→ fish in troubled waters

→ get one’shead above water

→ hold water

→ in deep water

→ keep one’shead above water

→ like a fish out of water

→ like water off a duck’s back

→ make someone’smouth water

→ not hold water

→ of the first water

→ pour cold water on something

→ pour oil on troubled water

→ salt water

→ seawater

→ soda water

→ throw cold water on something

water under the bridge

some-thing that is past and forgotten

waterfall ["wOt # fOl] n a flow of

water off the side of a mountain,

rock, or dam

waterproof ["wOt # pruf] 1 adj.

not allowing water to pass

through; able to keep water inside

or outside; not leaking water 2 tv

to cause something to resist water

as in Q

waters n vast amounts of water as

found in rivers, oceans, or large

lakes

watertight ["wOt # taIt] 1 adj not

allowing water to pass through;

able to keep water inside or

out-side; not leaking water 2 adj per-fect; [of an agreement or argu-ment] having no mistakes or defects (Figurative on Q.)

wave ["wev] 1 n a moving ridge of

water made by wind, the tide, or the movement of something through water 2 n a ridge in the

surface of something 3 n a

movement of the hand as in Y

4 n an increase in crime, heat, or cold 5 tv to move something,

especially one’s hand, when greet-ing someone, trygreet-ing to get some-one’s attention, or calling attention

to oneself 6 iv to greet someone,

to get someone’s attention, or to call attention to oneself by moving one’s hand 7 iv to move up and down or back and forth in the air

wax ["wAks] 1 n an oily or fatty

substance that melts easily when it

is warmed but hardens when it is cool, used to make candles, floor polish, and other substances (Plural only for types and instances.) 2 n an oily substance that is produced in the ears (No

plural.) 3 tv to coat or polish a floor with Q 4 tv [for the

moon] to gradually appear to be brighter and fuller before a full moon (Compare this with wane.)

way ["we] 1 n a manner; the

man-ner in which something is done; a

method 2 n a habit; a custom; a

regular manner in which some-thing is done (Usually plural.)

3 n the route to a certain place (No plural.) 4 adv far; far away in

time or space

→ argue one’sway out (of something)

→ buy one’sway out (of something)

→ cut both ways

way

691

→ elbow (one’sway) through

something

→ fight (one’sway) back to something

→ fight one’sway out of something

→ fight (one’sway) through

something

→ find one’s or itsway somewhere

→ get somethingunder way

→ have the right-of-way

→ look the other way

→ mend one’sways

→ one’sway

→ rub someone’sfur the wrong way

→ rub someonethe wrong way

→ shove one’sway somewhere

→ thread one’sway through

something

(way) over there in a place some

distance away

wayside ["we saId] adj along the

way, road, or highway

→ drop by the wayside

→ fall by the wayside

we ["wi] 1 pron the first-person

plural subjective pronoun,

refer-ring to the speaker or writer—

“I”—together with at least one

other person 2 pron a special use

of Q as a first-person singular

subjective pronoun, meaning “I,

the speaker or writer.” (Used by

writers and sometimes by royalty.)

3 pron everyone; all humans.

weak ["wik] 1 adj lacking power

or strength; not strong or

power-ful (Adv: weakly Comp: weaker;

sup: weakest.) 2 adj lacking

strong morals; lacking a moral

character (Adv: weakly Comp:

weaker; sup: weakest.) 3 adj

hav-ing too much water; diluted (Adv:

weakly Comp: weaker; sup:

weakest.)

→ (as) weak as a kitten

weaken ["wik @n] 1 iv to become weak 2 tv to cause someone or

something to become weak

weakness ["wik n@s] 1 n the

con-dition of being weak, especially concerning the health of some-one’s mind or body (No plural form.) 2 n a fault; a flaw; some-thing that weakens someone or something

→ have a weakness for someone or something

wealth ["wElT] n riches; a large

amount of money or property (No plural.)

a wealth of something a large

amount of something

wealthy ["wEl Ti] adj rich; having a

large amount of money or

prop-erty (Adv: wealthily Comp: wealthier; sup: wealthiest.)

thewealthy n people who are

wealthy (No plural Treated as plural, but not countable.)

wean ["win] tv to cause a child or

young animal to begin to eat food other than milk from the mother

weapon ["wEp @n] n any object or

machine used to hurt someone, to kill someone, or to defend oneself during a fight or an attack

wear ["wEr] 1 tv., irreg to have

something on the body, including clothes, glasses, jewelry, perfume, makeup, and similar things (Past tense: wore;past participle: worn.)

2 tv., irreg to have something on

or related to the body kept or held

in a particular way 3 tv., irreg to

damage something gradually

because of continued use 4 iv.,

irreg to damage or worsen

gradu-(way) over there

692

ally 5 n gradual damage that is

caused because of continued use

(No plural.) 6 n clothing,

espe-cially a collection of clothing

available for sale at a store (Used

in combinations such as resort

wear, business wear, etc No plural.

Treated as singular.)

→ none the worse for wear

wear more than one hat to have

more than one set of

responsibili-ties; to hold more than one office

wear off [for the effects of

some-thing] to gradually vanish or go

away

wear out to become worn from

use; to become diminished or

use-less from use

wear out one’s welcome to stay

too long (at an event to which one

has been invited); to visit

some-where too often

wear someone down 1 to exhaust

someone 2 to reduce someone to

submission or agreement by

con-stant nagging

wear someone out to exhaust or

annoy someone

wear something down to grind

something away; to erode

some-thing

wear something out to make

some-thing worthless or nonfunctional

from use

wear (up)on someone to diminish

someone’s energy and resistance;

to bore or annoy someone

weary ["wIr i] 1 adj tired;

ex-hausted; fatigued (Adv: wearily.

Comp: wearier; sup: weariest.)

2 iv to become tired, exhausted,

or fatigued

weather ["wED #] 1 n the

condi-tion of the outside air, including the temperature, the amount of moisture in the air, and the pres-ence or abspres-ence of rain, snow, wind, clouds, and sunshine (No plural.) 2 tv to withstand some-thing (especially bad weatherQ)

without damage 3 tv [for kinds

of Q] to damage something 4 iv.

to change because of exposure to Q

→ fair-weather friend

→ keep one’sweather eye open

→ lovely weather for ducks

→ under the weather

weather permitting if the weather

allows it

weave ["wiv] 1 tv., irreg to make

something by crossing threads or strips of material from side to side

so that they go over and under threads or strips of material that are stretched up and down (Past tense: wove;past participle: woven.) 2 tv., irreg to cross

threads or strips of material from side to side so that they go over and under threads or strips of material that are stretched up and down 3 tv., irreg to make some-thing by combining different things into a whole (Figurative on Q.) 4 iv., irreg to move so that one is always changing direction

(Past tense: sometimes weaved.)

web ["wEb] 1 n a net of thin, silky

threads made by spiders in order

to trap other insects for food 2 n.

a network; a detailed arrangement

of things that cross and connect with each other (Figurative on Q.) 3 n the piece of thin skin between the toes of ducks and

web

693

other animals that live in or near

the water

→ World Wide Web

the Web n the World Wide Web; a

branch of the computer Internet.

we’d ["wid] 1 cont we had, where

hadis an auxiliary 2 cont we

would

wed ["wEd] 1 tv., irreg to marry

someone; to take someone as a

husband or wife (Past tense and

past participle: wedded or wed.)

2 tv., irreg to cause two people to

become married by performing a

marriage ceremony 3 iv., irreg to

become married

wed(ded) to someone married to

someone

wedded to something mentally

attached to something; firmly

committed to something

wedding ["wEd IN] 1 n the

cere-mony where two people become

married to each other; a marriage

ceremony 2 n a merger or

for-mation of a close association

(Fig-urative on Q.)

→ shotgun wedding

wedge ["wEdZ] 1 n a piece of

wood, metal, or other material

that is thick at one end and

nar-rows to an edge at the other end

2 n any object shaped like Q.

3 tv to stick someone or

some-thing in a tight space between two

people or things, especially so that

nothing or no one can move

Wednesday ["wEnz de] Go to day.

weed ["wid] 1 n a rough plant that

grows in a place where it is not

wanted 2 tv to remove Q from

an area of ground, such as a lawn

or garden 3 tv to remove a spe-cific kind of Q 4 iv to clean or

improve [a garden or lawn] by removing Q

weed someone or something out to

remove someone or something unwanted or undesirable from a group or collection

week ["wik] 1 n a period of seven

days (See a list of days of the week

at day.) 2 n a period of seven days

beginning on a Sunday and ending

on a Saturday (According to the calendar.) 3 n the five or six days during which most workers work, especially Monday through Friday

weekday ["wik de] 1 n Monday,

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or

Friday 2 adj happening on Q; of

Q (Prenominal only.)

weekend ["wik End] 1 n the

period of time from Friday

eve-ning to Sunday night 2 adj

hap-pening at some time between Friday evening and Sunday night (Prenominal only.)

weeks running Go to days run-ning.

weep ["wip] 1 iv., irreg to cry.

(Past tense and past participle: wept.) 2 tv., irreg to shed tears; to

cry and make tears

weigh ["we] 1 tv to use a scale to

determine the weight of someone

or something 2 tv to think

care-fully and compare different options or alternatives when mak-ing a choice or decision 3 iv to

have a certain weight 4 iv to have

a particular kind of influence on someone or something

Web

694

weight ["wet] 1 n the degree of

heaviness of someone or

some-thing or how heavy someone or

something is, as measured

accord-ing to a specific system (No

plu-ral.) 2 n a heavy object, used for

exercising 3 n a heavy object,

especially one that keeps

some-thing in place, holds somesome-thing

down, or balances something

4 n a mental burden; something

that occupies one’s thoughts (No

plural.) 5 n influence; important

factors

→ carry the weight of the world

on one’sshoulders

→ groan under the weight of

something

→ not carry weight (with someone)

→ worth its weight in gold

weird ["wIrd] adj very strange; very

odd; very unusual (Adv: weirdly.

Comp: weirder; sup: weirdest.)

welcome ["wEl k@m] 1 tv to greet

someone in a friendly way 2 tv to

be happy to receive or experience

something (Figurative on Q.)

3 n the act of greeting or

receiv-ing someone or somethreceiv-ing with

pleasure 4 adj accepted with

pleasure; wanted

→ wear out one’swelcome

welfare ["wEl fEr] 1 n a state of

having good health, comfort, and

enough money to live

satisfacto-rily (No plural.) 2 n money

pro-vided by the government for poor

people to live on; the system of

providing money for poor people

to live on (No plural.)

we’ll ["wil] cont we will.

well ["wEl] 1 adv., irreg in a good

way (Comp: better;sup: best.)

2 adv enough; sufficiently; to a

good degree 3 adv completely; thoroughly; fully 4 adj., irreg.

healthy; in good health (Comp: better.) 5 n a deep hole that is

dug in the ground to reach water, gas, or oil

well- adv well Q, W, or E used in compounds

well liked ["wEl "laIkt] adj

popu-lar; liked by many people (Hyphenated before a nominal.)

well-fed ["wEl "fEd] adj eating

enough good food to be healthy (Hyphenated only before a nomi-nal.)

well-fixed Go to well-heeled.

well-heeled and well-fixed; well-off wealthy; having a

suffi-cient amount of money

well-known ["wEl "non] adj

usu-ally known by many people; [of people] famous (Hyphenated only before a nominal.)

well-made ["wEl "med] adj

prop-erly constructed; sturdy; made with skill (Hyphenated only before a nominal.)

well-off Go to well-heeled.

well-to-do wealthy and of good

social position

went ["wEnt] past tense ofgo

wept ["wEpt] past tense and past

participle ofweep

we’re ["wIr] cont we are.

were ["w#] 1 iv past tense ofbe used with plural forms and you

singular 2 iv the form ofbeused with all nouns and pronouns to indicate something that is con-trary to fact

weren’t ["w#nt] cont were not.

weren’t

695