EASIER ENGLISH BASIC DICTIONARY 17 pptx

spiral spiral / sparəl/ noun a shape which is twisted round and round like a spring 쑗 He drew a spiral on the sheet of paper.. a soft material full of small holes used to make things li

spine 301 spoon

spun a web between the two posts.

(NOTE: spins – spinning – spun

/spn/) 쐽noun the turning movement

of a ball as it moves 쑗 He put so much

spin on the ball that it bounced

side-ways 쑗 He jammed on the brakes and

the car went into a spin.

some-thing last as long as possible

spine

spine /span/ noun 1 a series of bones

joined together from your skull down

the middle of your back 쑗 He injured

his spine playing rugby (NOTE: The

bones in the spine are the vertebrae.)

2. a sharp part like a pin, on a plant,

an-imal or fish 쑗 Did you know that lemon

trees had spines? 3 the back edge of a

book, which usually has the title printed

on it 쑗 The title and the author’s name

are printed on the front of the book and

also on the spine.

spiral

spiral /sparəl/ noun a shape which is

twisted round and round like a spring 쑗

He drew a spiral on the sheet of paper.

쐽 adjective which twists round and

round 쑗 A spiral staircase leads to the

top of the tower.

spirit

spirit /sprt/ noun 1 the mental attitude

which controls how someone behaves

generally 쑗 She has a great spirit of fun.

쑗 He had an independent spirit 2

feel-ings which are typical of a particular

oc-casion 3 the part of a person that is said

to still exist after death 4 alcohol (NOTE:

usually plural)

spiritual

spiritual /sprtʃuəl/ adjective relating

to the spirit or the soul 쑗 The church’s

main task is to give spiritual advice to

its members.

spite

spite /spat/ noun 1 bad feeling 쑗 They

sprayed his car with white paint out of

spite 2 왍 in spite of although

some-thing happened or was done 쑗 In spite of

all his meetings, he still found time to

ring his wife 쑗 We all enjoyed

our-selves, in spite of the awful weather 쐽

verb to annoy someone on purpose 쑗

He did it to spite his sister.

spiteful

spiteful /spatf(ə)l/ adjective full of a

nasty feelings against someone

splash

splash /splʃ/ noun a sound made when

something falls into a liquid or when a

liquid hits something hard 쑗 She fell

into the pool with a loud splash 쑗 Lis-ten to the splash of the waves against the rocks 쐽verb 1 (of liquid) to make a

noise when something is dropped into it

or when it hits something 쑗 I missed the

ball and it splashed into the pool 쑗 The

rain splashed against the windows 2 to

make someone wet by sending liquid on

to him or her 쑗 The car drove past

through a puddle and splashed my

trou-sers 3 to move through water, making

a noise 쑗 He splashed his way through

the shallow water to the rocks 쑗 The lit-tle children were splashing about in the paddling pool.

splendid

splendid /splendd/ adjective

extreme-ly good or impressive

split

split /splt/ verb 1 to divide something

into parts 쑗 He split the log into small

pieces with an axe 2 to divide or come

apart 쑗 My trousers were too tight – they

split when I bent down 쑗 After they lost the election, the party split into various factions (NOTE: splits – splitting –

split)

spoil

spoil /spɔl/ verb 1 to change something

which was good so that it is no longer

good 쑗 We had such bad weather that

our camping holiday was spoilt 쑗 Half the contents of the warehouse were

spoiled by floodwater 2 to be too kind

to someone, especially a child, so that

he or she sometimes becomes badly

be-haved 쑗 You’ll spoil that child if you

al-ways give in to him 쑗 Grandparents are allowed to spoil their grandchildren a little (NOTE: spoils – spoiling – spoilt

/spɔlt/ or spoiled)

spoke

spoke /spəυk/ past tense of speak

spoken

spoken /spəυkən/ past participle of

speak

sponge

sponge /spnd"/ noun 1 a soft material

full of small holes used to make things

like cushions 쑗 The sofa has sponge

cushions 2 a sea animal with a skeleton

which is full of holes 쑗 Diving down into the Red Sea you could see sponges

on the sea floor 쐽verb to wipe clean

with a sponge 쑗 He sponged the kitchen

table.

spoon

spoon / eating liquids and soft food, or for stir-ring food which is being cooked, with a

sport 302 spun

handle at one end and a small bowl at

the other, 쑗 Use a spoon to eat your

pudding 쑗 We need a big spoon to serve

the soup.

sport

sport /

volving physical activity and

competi-tion 쑗 Do you like watching sport on

TV? 쑗 The world of sport is mourning

the death of the racing driver 쑗 The

only sport I play is tennis 쑗 She doesn’t

play any sport at all.

spot

spot /spɒt/ noun 1 a coloured mark,

usually round 쑗 Her dress has a pattern

of white and red spots 쑗 He wore a blue

tie with white spots 2 a particular place

쑗 This is the exact spot where the queen

died 3 a small round mark or pimple on

the skin 쑗 She suddenly came out in

spots after eating fish 쐽 verb to notice

something or someone 쑗 The teacher

didn’t spot the mistake 쑗 We spotted

him in the crowd (NOTE: spots –

spot-ting – spotted)

spotless

spotless /spɒtləs/ adjective

complete-ly clean, with no dirty marks at all

spout

spout /spaυt/ noun a tube on a container

which is shaped for pouring liquid out

of the container 쑗 You fill the kettle

through the spout 쑗 Cut here and pull

out to form a spout.

sprain

sprain /spren/ verb to damage a joint of

the body by twisting it suddenly and

vi-olently 쑗 He sprained his ankle jumping

over the fence 쐽 noun a condition

where a joint is injured because of a

sud-den violent movement 쑗 He is walking

with a stick because of an ankle sprain.

sprang

sprang /sprŋ/ past tense of spring

sprawl

sprawl /

and legs spread out 쑗 He sprawled in his

armchair and turned on the TV 쑗 The

boy on the bike hit her and sent her

sprawling.

spray

spray /spre/ noun a mass of tiny drops

of liquid 쑗 The waves crashed against

the sea wall sending spray over the

road 쑗 She uses a nasal spray to clear

her catarrh 쐽 verb to send out liquid in

fine drops 쑗 He sprayed water all over

the garden with the hose 쑗 They

sprayed the room with disinfectant.

spread

spread /spred/ verb 1 to arrange

some-thing over a wide area 쑗 Spread the

pa-per flat on the table 2 to move over a

wide area 쑗 The fire started in the top floor and soon spread to the roof 쑗 The

flu epidemic spread rapidly 3 to cover

a surface with a layer of something 쑗

She spread a white cloth over the table.

쑗 He was spreading butter on a piece of

bread (NOTE: spreads – spreading –

over a wide area 쑗 Doctors are trying to

check the spread of the disease 2 a soft

food consisting of meat, fish or cheese, which you can spread on something

such as bread 쑗 As snacks, they offered

us water biscuits with cheese spread.

spring

spring /sprŋ/ noun 1 the season of the

year between winter and summer 쑗 In

spring all the trees start to grow new leaves 쑗 We always go to Greece in the spring 쑗 They started work last spring

or in the spring of last year and they still

haven’t finished 2 a wire which is

twisted round and round and which goes back to its original shape after you have

pulled it or pushed it 쑗 The mattress is

so old the springs have burst through the cover 쑗 There’s a spring to keep the

door shut 3 a place where a stream of

water rushes out of the ground 쑗 The

town of Bath was built in Roman times around hot springs 쐽 verb to move

sud-denly 쑗 Everyone sprang to life when

the officer shouted 쑗 The door sprang open without anyone touching it (NOTE:

springs – springing – sprang

/sprŋ/ – has sprung /sprŋ/)

sprinkle

sprinkle /sprŋkəl/ verb to put small amounts of a liquid or powder over a surface by shaking

sprint

sprint /sprnt/ verb to run very fast over

a short distance 쑗 I had to sprint to

catch the bus 쑗 She sprinted down the track.

sprout

sprout /spraυt/ noun a new shoot of a

plant 쑗 The vine is covered with new

sprouts 쐽 verb to produce new shoots 쑗

Throw those old potatoes away, they’re starting to sprout 쑗 The bush had be-gun to sprout fresh green leaves.

spun

spun /spn/ past participle of spin

spurt 303 stab

spurt

spurt / 왍 to spurt out to

come out in a strong jet 쑗 Oil spurted

out of the burst pipe 2 to run fast

sud-denly 쑗 He spurted past two runners

and came in first 쐽 noun a strong flow

of liquid 쑗 They tried to block the spurts

of water coming out of the pipe.

spy

spy /spa/ noun a person who is paid to

try to find out secret information about

the enemy or a rival group 쑗 He was

ex-ecuted as a Russian spy (NOTE: The

plural is spies.) 쐽 verb to work as a spy

(NOTE: spies – spying – spied) 왍 to

spy on someone to watch someone in

secret, to find out what they are

plan-ning to do 쑗 We discovered that our

neighbours had been spying on us.

squalid

squalid /skwɒld/ adjective a squalid

room or building is dirty and unpleasant

쑗 The prisoners are kept in squalid

con-ditions.

square

square /skweə/ noun 1 a shape with

four equal sides and four right-angled

corners 쑗 The board on which you play

chess is made up of black and white

squares 쑗 Graph paper is covered with

small squares 2 an open space in a

town, with big buildings all round 쑗 The

hotel is in the main square of the town,

opposite the town hall 쑗 Red Square is

in the middle of Moscow 3 a number

that is the result of multiplying another

number by itself 쑗 9 is the square of 3.

쐽 adjective 1 shaped like a square, with

four equal sides and four right-angled

corners 쑗 You can’t fit six people round

a small square table 쑗 An A4 piece of

paper isn’t square 2 multiplied by

it-self

squash

squash /skwɒʃ/ verb to crush or to

squeeze something 쑗 Hundreds of

pas-sengers were squashed into the train 쑗

He sat on my hat and squashed it flat 쐽

noun a fast game for two players played

in an enclosed court, with a small,

squashy rubber ball and light,

long-han-dled rackets 쑗 He plays squash to

un-wind after a day at the office 쑗 Let’s

play a game of squash.

squat

squat /skwɒt/ verb to move your body

close to the ground so that you are

sit-ting on your heels 쑗 She squatted on the

floor, trying to get the stains out of the

carpet (NOTE: squats – squatting –

squatted)

squeak

squeak / sound like the sound that a mouse

makes 쑗 You can tell when someone comes into the garden by the squeak of the gate 쐽verb to make a squeak 쑗

That door squeaks – the hinges need oil-ing.

squeal

The children let out squeals of delight when they saw the presents under the Christmas tree 쑗 The car turned the corner with a squeal of tyres 쐽 verb to

make a loud high-pitched noise 쑗 She

squealed when she heard she had won first prize 쑗 As the car turned the cor-ner its tyres squealed.

squeeze

squeeze /

ing or crushing 쑗 I gave her hand a

squeeze 쐽 verb 1 to press on

some-thing or to press or crush somesome-thing like

a fruit or a tube to get something out of

it 쑗 She squeezed my arm gently 쑗 He squeezed an orange to get the juice 쑗 She squeezed some toothpaste out onto

her brush 2 to force something, or to

force your own body, into a small space

쑗 You can’t squeeze six people into that

little car 쑗 More people tried to squeeze

on the train even though it was full al-ready 쑗 The cat managed to squeeze through the window.

squirrel

squirrel /skwrəl/ noun a small red or grey wild animal with a large tail which

lives in trees and eats nuts 쑗 The

squir-rel sat up on a branch nibbling a nut 쑗 Squirrels hoard nuts for the winter.

squirt

squirt /

powerful flow of liquid 쑗 Don’t squirt

so much washing-up liquid into the bowl 쑗 She squeezed the tube hard and masses of toothpaste squirted out.

St

St abbr 1 street 2 saint

stab

stab /stb/ verb to push a sharp knife

with force into someone or something 쑗

He was stabbed in the chest (NOTE:

a deep wound made by the point of a

knife 쑗 He died of stab wounds 앳 to

something 쑗 I’m keen to have a stab at

driving the tractor.

stable 304 stammer

stable

stable /steb(ə)l/ adjective which does

not change 쑗 The hospital said his

con-dition was stable 쐽 noun a building for

keeping a horse 쑗 My horse is not in his

stable, who’s riding him?

stack

stack /stk/ noun a pile or heap of

things one on top of the other 쑗 a stack

of books and papers 쐽 verb to pile

things on top of each other 쑗 The skis

are stacked outside the chalet 쑗 She

stacked up the dirty plates 쑗 The

ware-house is stacked with boxes.

stadium

stadium /stediəm/ noun a large

build-ing where crowds of people watch sport,

with seats arranged around a sports field

(NOTE: The plural is stadiums or

sta-dia.)

staff

staff /

work in a company, school, college, or

other organisation 쑗 She’s on the school

staff 쑗 Only staff can use this lift 쑗 A

quarter of our staff are ill 쑗 That firm

pays its staff very badly 쑗 He joined the

staff last Monday 쑗 Three members of

staff are away sick (NOTE: staff refers

to a group of people and so is often

fol-lowed by a verb in the plural.)

stage

stage /sted"/ noun 1 a raised floor,

es-pecially where the actors perform in a

theatre 쑗 The pop group came onto the

stage and started to sing 2 one of

sev-eral points of development 쑗 the

differ-ent stages of a production process 쑗 The

first stage in the process is to grind the

rock to powder 3 a section of a long

journey 쑗 Stage one of the tour takes us

from Paris to Bordeaux 쐽 verb to put on

or arrange a play, a show, a musical or

other performance or event 쑗 The

exhi-bition is being staged in the college

li-brary.

stagger

stagger /st'ə/ verb 1 to walk in way

that is not steady or controlled, almost

falling down 쑗 She managed to stagger

across the road and into the police

sta-tion 쑗 Three men staggered out of the

pub 2 to surprise someone very much

쑗 I was staggered at the amount they

charge for service 3 to arrange

some-thing such as holidays or working hours,

so that they do not all begin and end at

the same time 쑗 We have to stagger the

lunch hour so that there is always

some-one on the switchboard 쐽 noun the movement of someone who is

stagger-ing 쑗 He walked with a noticeable

stag-ger.

stain

stain /sten/ noun a mark which is

diffi-cult to remove, e.g ink or blood 쑗 It is

difficult to remove coffee stains from the tablecloth 쑗 There was a round stain on the table where he had put his wine glass 쐽 verb to make a mark of a

differ-ent colour on something 쑗 If you eat

those berries they will stain your teeth.

쑗 His shirt was stained with blood.

stair

stair /steə/ noun one step in a series of steps, going up or down inside a

build-ing 쑗 He was sitting on the bottom stair.

staircase

staircase /steəkes/ noun a set of stairs which go from one floor in a building to another

stake

stake /stek/ noun a strong pointed piece

of wood or metal, pushed into the ground to mark something, or to hold

something up 쑗 They hammered stakes

into the ground to put up a wire fence 쑗 The apple trees are attached to stakes.

stale

stale /stel/ adjective food which is stale

is old and no longer fresh

stalk

stalk /

which holds a leaf, a flower or a fruit 쑗

Roses with very long stalks are more ex-pensive 쐽 verb to stay near someone and watch him or her all the time, espe-cially in a way that is frightening or

up-setting 쑗 She told the police that a man

was stalking her 쑗 The hunters stalked the deer for several miles.

stall

stall / where one person sells his or her goods

쑗 He has a flower stall at Waterloo

Sta-tion 쑗 We wandered round the market looking at the stalls 쐽 verb (of a car en-gine) to stop unintentionally, often when trying to drive off without

acceler-ating 쑗 If he takes his foot off the

accel-erator, the engine stalls 쑗 The car stalled at the traffic lights and he couldn’t restart it.

stammer

stammer /stmə/ verb to repeat sounds when speaking, e.g because of

feeling nervous 쑗 He stammers badly

when making speeches 쑗 She rushed into the police station and stammered

stamp 305 star

out ‘he’s – he’s – he’s after me, he’s got

– got – a knife’ 쐽 noun a speech

prob-lem that involves hesitating and

repeat-ing sounds when speakrepeat-ing 쑗 Because of

his stammer he was shy and reserved at

school.

stamp

stamp /stmp/ noun 1 a little piece of

paper with a price printed on it which

you stick on a letter to show that you

have paid for it to be sent by post 쑗 a

first-class stamp 쑗 She forgot to put a

stamp on the letter before she posted it.

쑗 He wants to show me his stamp

col-lection 2 a mark made on something 쑗

The invoice has the stamp ‘received with

thanks’ on it 쑗 The customs officer

looked at the stamps in his passport 쐽

verb 1 to mark something with a stamp

쑗 They stamped my passport when I

en-tered the country 2 to walk, or to put

your feet down, with loud or forceful

steps 쑗 They stamped on the ants to kill

them 쑗 He was so angry that he

stamped out of the room.

stand

stand /stnd/ verb 1 to be upright on

your feet and not sitting or lying down 쑗

She stood on a chair to reach the top

shelf 쑗 They were so tired they could

hardly keep standing 쑗 If there are no

seats left, we’ll have to stand 쑗 Don’t

just stand there doing nothing – come

and help us 2 to be upright 쑗 Only a

few houses were still standing after the

earthquake 쑗 The jar was standing in

the middle of the table 3 to accept

something bad that continues 쑗 The

of-fice is filthy – I don’t know how you can

stand working here 쑗 She can’t stand

all this noise 쑗 He stopped going to

French lessons because he couldn’t

stand the teacher (NOTE: stands –

something which holds something up 쑗

The pot of flowers fell off its stand.

mean-ing 쑗 What do the letters BBC stand

for?

seen 쑗 Their house stands out because it

is painted pink 쑗 Her red hair makes

her stand out in a crowd.

sitting 쑗 When the teacher comes into

the room all the children should stand

up 쑗 He stood up to offer his seat to the old lady.

de-fend someone or something in a

diffi-cult situation 쑗 He stood up for the

rights of children.

someone bravely 쑗 No one was

pre-pared to stand up to the head of

depart-ment 2 to be able to resist difficult

conditions 쑗 A carpet in a shop has to

stand up to a lot of wear.

standard

standard /stndəd/ noun 1 the level

of quality something has 쑗 The

stand-ard of service in this restaurant is very high 쑗 This piece of work is not up to

your usual standard 2 an excellent

quality which something or someone is

expected to achieve 쑗 This product does

not meet our standards 쑗 She has set a standard which it will be difficult to

match 3 a large official flag 쑗 The

roy-al standard flies over Buckingham Proy-al- Pal-ace 쐽 adjective 1 usual, not special 쑗

She joined on a standard contract 쑗 You will need to follow the standard

pro-cedure to join the association 2 on a

tall pole

stank

stank /stŋk/ past tense of stink

staple

staple /step(ə)l/ noun a piece of wire which is pushed through papers and

bent over to hold them together 쑗 He

used some scissors to take the staples out of the papers 쐽verb to fasten pa-pers together with a staple or with

sta-ples 쑗 Don’t staple the cheque to the

or-der form.

star

star / can be seen in the sky at night like a very

distant bright light 쑗 On a clear night

you can see thousands of stars 쑗 The pole star shows the direction of the

North Pole 2 a shape that has several

points like a star 쑗 Draw a big star and

colour it red 3 a famous person who is

very well known to the public 쑗 football stars 쑗 Who is your favourite film star?

쐽 verb to appear as a main character in

a film or play 쑗 She starred in ‘Gone

with the Wind’ 쑗 He has a starring role

in the new play (NOTE: stars – starring

– starred)

stare 306 stay

stare

stare /steə/ verb to look at someone or

something for a long time 쑗 She stared

sadly out of the window at the rain 쐽

noun a long fixed look 쑗 He gave her a

stare and walked on.

start

start /

thing 쑗 Building the house took only six

months from start to finish 쑗 Things

went wrong from the start 쑗 Let’s forget

all you’ve done up to now, and make a

fresh start 쐽 verb 1 to begin to do

something 쑗 The babies all started to

cry or all started crying at the same

time 쑗 He started to eat or he started

eating his dinner before the rest of the

family 쑗 Take an umbrella – it’s

start-ing to rain 쑗 When you learn Russian,

you have to start by learning the

alpha-bet 2 (of a machine) to begin to work

쑗 The car won’t start – the battery must

be flat 쑗 The engine started beautifully.

앳 to start with first of all 쑗 We have

lots to do but to start with we’ll do the

washing up.

We’ll start off with soup and then have

a meat dish 2 to leave on a journey 쑗

You can start off now, and I’ll follow

when I’m ready.

startle

startle /

suddenly surprised

starve

starve /

food 쑗 Many people starved to death in

the desert.

state

state /stet/ noun 1 the way something

or someone is at a specific time 쑗 The

children are in a state of excitement 쑗

They left the flat in a terrible state 쑗

She’s not in a fit state to receive visitors.

2. the government of a country 쑗 We all

pay taxes to the state 쑗 The state should

pay for the upkeep of museums 3 an

in-dependent country 쑗 The member states

of the European Union 4 one of the

parts into which some countries are

di-vided 쑗 the State of Arizona 쑗 New

South Wales has the largest population

of all the Australian states 쐽verb to

give information clearly 쑗 Please state

your name and address 쑗 It states in the

instructions that you must not open the

can near a flame 쑗 The document states

that all revenue has to be declared to the

tax office 앳 in a state 1 in a very

un-happy, worried or upset condition 쑗

She’s in such a state that I don’t want to leave her alone 쑗 He was in a terrible

state after the phone call 2. in a dirty or

bad condition 쑗 Look at the state of

your trousers 쑗 They left our flat in a terrible state.

statement

statement /stetmənt/ noun 1

some-thing that is spoken or written publicly

쑗 a statement about or on the new

pro-cedures 쑗 She refused to issue a

state-ment to the press 2 a written docustate-ment

from a bank showing how much money

is in an account

station

station /steʃ(ə)n/ noun 1 a place

where trains stop and passengers get on

or off 쑗 The train leaves the Central

Station at 14.15 쑗 This is a fast train –

it doesn’t stop at every station 쑗 We’ll try to get a sandwich at the station

buf-fet 2 a large main building for a service

쑗 The fire station is just down the road

from us 쑗 He was arrested and taken to the local police station.

stationary

stationary /steʃ(ə)n(ə)ri/ adjective not moving (NOTE: Do not confuse with

stationery.)

stationery

stationery /steʃ(ə)n(ə)ri/ noun things such as paper, envelopes, pens and ink which you use for writing (NOTE: no

plural Do not confuse with

station-ary.)

statue

statue / person or animal made from a substance such as stone or metal

status

status /stetəs/ noun 1 social

impor-tance when compared to other people 쑗

He has a low-status job on the Under-ground 쑗 His status in the company has

been rising steadily 2 a general

posi-tion

stay

stay /ste/ verb 1 not to change 쑗 The

temperature stayed below zero all day.

쑗 In spite of the fire, he stayed calm 쑗 I

won’t be able to stay awake until

mid-night 2 to stop in a place 쑗 They came for lunch and stayed until after mid-night 쑗 I’m rather tired so I’ll stay at

home tomorrow 쑗 He’s ill and has to

stay in bed 3 to stop in a place as a

vis-itor 쑗 They stayed two nights in

Edin-burgh on their tour of Scotland 쑗

steadily 307 stew

Where will you be staying when you’re

in New York? 쑗 My parents are staying

at the Hotel London.

steadily

steadily /stedli/ adverb regularly or

continuously

steady

steady /stedi/ adjective 1 firm and not

moving or shaking 쑗 You need a steady

hand to draw a straight line without a

ruler 쑗 He put a piece of paper under

the table leg to keep it steady 2

contin-uing in a regular way 쑗 There is a steady

demand for computers 쑗 The car was

doing a steady seventy miles an hour 쑗

She hasn’t got a steady boyfriend.

(NOTE: steadier – steadiest) 쐽 verb to

keep something firm 쑗 He put out his

hand to steady the ladder (NOTE:

steadies – steadying – steadied)

steak

steak /stek/ noun 1 a thick piece of

meat, usually beef 쑗 He ordered steak

and chips 쑗 I’m going to grill these

steaks 2 a thick piece of a big fish 쑗 A

grilled salmon steak for me, please!

(NOTE: Do not confuse with stake.)

steal

steal /

something that belongs to another

per-son without permission 쑗 Someone

tried to steal my handbag 쑗 He was

ar-rested for stealing cars 2 to move

qui-etly 쑗 He stole into the cellar and tried

to find the safe (NOTE: Do not confuse

with steel Note also: steals –

steam

steam /

clouds which comes off hot or boiling

water 쑗 Clouds of steam were coming

out of the kitchen.

steel

steel /

from iron and carbon 쑗 Steel knives are

best for the kitchen 쑗 The door is made

of solid steel.

steep

steep /

falls quickly 쑗 The car climbed the

steep hill with some difficulty 쑗 The

steps up the church tower are steeper

than our stairs at home 2 very sharply

increasing or falling 쑗 a steep increase

in interest charges 쑗 a steep fall in share

prices

steer

steer /stə/ verb to make a vehicle go in

a particular direction 쑗 She steered the

car into the garage.

stem

stem /stem/ noun the tall thin part of a plant which holds a leaf, a flower or a

fruit 쑗 Trim the stems before you put the

flowers in the vase.

step

step /step/ noun 1 a movement of your

foot when walking 쑗 I wonder when the

baby will take his first steps 쑗 Take a step sideways and you will be able to see

the castle 2 a regular movement of feet

at the same time as other people 3 one

stair in a set of stairs 쑗 There are two

steps down into the kitchen 쑗 I counted

75 steps to the top of the tower 쑗 Be careful, there’s a step up into the

bath-room 4 an action which is done or has

to be done out of several 쑗 The first and

most important step is to find out how much money we can spend 쐽verb to move forwards, backwards or sideways

on foot 쑗 He stepped out in front of a

bi-cycle and was knocked down 쑗 She stepped off the bus into a puddle 쑗 Don’t step back, there’s a child behind you (NOTE: steps – stepping –

the same rate as everybody else 쑗 I tried

to keep in step with him as we walked along 쑗 The recruits can’t even march

in step 앳 out of step moving your feet

at a different rate from everyone else 쑗

One of the squad always gets out of step.

앳 to take steps to to act to encourage

or prevent something 쑗 We should take steps to encourage female applicants 쑗 The museum must take steps to make sure that nothing else is stolen.

stereo

stereo /steriəυ/ noun a machine which plays music or other sound through two

different loudspeakers 쑗 I bought a new

pair of speakers for my stereo 왍 in

ster-eo using two speakers to produce sound

stern

stern /

쑗 The judge addressed some stern words to the boys.

stew

stew / etables cooked together for a long time

쑗 This lamb stew is a French recipe 쐽 verb to cook food for a long time in

liq-uid 쑗 Stew the apples until they are

completely soft.

stick 308 stitch

stick

stick /stk/ noun 1 a thin piece of wood

쑗 He jabbed a pointed stick into the

hole 쑗 I need a strong stick to tie this

plant to 2 a thin branch of a tree 3

an-ything long and thin 쑗 carrots cut into

sticks 쐽 verb 1 to attach something

with glue 쑗 Can you stick the pieces of

the cup together again? 쑗 She stuck the

stamp on the letter 쑗 They stuck a

post-er on the door 2 to be fixed or not to be

able to move 쑗 The car was stuck in the

mud 쑗 The door sticks – you need to

push it hard to open it 쑗 The cake will

stick if you don’t grease the tin 쑗 He

was stuck in Italy without any money 3.

to push something into something 쑗 He

stuck his hand into the hole 쑗 She stuck

her finger in the jam to taste it 쑗 She

stuck the ticket into her bag 쑗 She stuck

a needle into her finger 4 to stay in a

place 쑗 Stick close to your mother and

you won’t get lost 5 to accept

some-thing bad that continues 쑗 I don’t know

how she can stick working in that office.

쑗 I’m going, I can’t stick it here any

longer (NOTE: sticks – sticking –

stay together 쑗 If we stick together they

should let us into the club.

some-thing out 2 to be further forward or

fur-ther away from something 쑗 Your

wallet is sticking out of your pocket 쑗

The balcony sticks out over the road.

sticker

sticker /stkə/ noun a small piece of

pa-per or plastic which you can stick on

something to show a price, as a

decora-tion or to advertise something

sticky

sticky /stki/ adjective 1 covered with

something which sticks like glue 쑗 My

fingers are all sticky 쑗 This stuff is

ter-ribly sticky – I can’t get it off my fingers.

2. with glue on one side so that it sticks

easily (NOTE: stickier – stickiest)

stiff

stiff /stf/ adjective 1 which does not

move easily 쑗 The lock is very stiff – I

can’t turn the key 쑗 I’ve got a stiff neck.

쑗 She was feeling stiff all over after

run-ning in the race 2 with hard bristles 쑗

You need a stiff brush to get the mud off

your shoes.

stiffness

stiffness /stfnəs/ noun 1 having

mus-cle pains after doing exercise, or being

unable to move easily because of

dam-aged joints 쑗 Arthritis accompanied by

a certain amount of stiffness in the

joints 2 the quality of being stiff 쑗 The

stiffness of the material makes it unsuit-able for a dress.

still

still /stl/ adjective not moving 쑗 Stand

still while I take the photo 쑗 There was

no wind, and the surface of the lake was completely still 쐽 adverb 1 continuing

until now or until then 쑗 I thought he

had left, but I see he’s still there 쑗 They came for lunch and were still sitting at the table at eight o’clock in the evening.

쑗 Weeks afterwards, they’re still talking

about the accident 2 in spite of

every-thing 쑗 It wasn’t sunny for the picnic –

still, it didn’t rain 쑗 He still insisted on going on holiday even though he had broken his leg.

stimulus

stimulus /stmjυləs/ noun an encour-agement or incentive that leads to

great-er activity

sting

sting /stŋ/ noun a wound made by an

in-sect or plant 쑗 Bee stings can be very

painful 쑗 Have you anything for wasp stings? 쐽 verb 1 to wound someone

with an insect’s or plant’s sting 쑗 I’ve

been stung by a wasp 쑗 The plants

stung her bare legs 2 to give a burning

feeling 쑗 The antiseptic may sting a

lit-tle at first (NOTE: stings – stinging –

stink

stink /stŋk/ (informal) noun a very

un-pleasant smell 쑗 the stink of cigarette

smoke 쐽 verb to make an unpleasant

smell 쑗 The office stinks of gas ( NOTE:

stir

stir /

or something which is cooking, to mix it

up 쑗 He was stirring the sugar into his

coffee 쑗 Keep stirring the porridge, or

it will stick to the bottom of the pan.

(NOTE: stirs – stirring – stirred)

stirring

stirring / feel strong emotions, especially pride or enthusiasm

stitch

stitch /sttʃ/ noun 1 a little loop of

thread made with a needle in sewing or

with knitting needles when knitting 쑗

She used very small stitches in her em-broidery 쑗 Very fine wool will give you

stock 309 stop

more stitches than in the pattern 2 a

small loop of thread used by a surgeon

to attach the sides of a wound together

to help it to heal 쑗 She had three stitches

in her arm 쑗 Come back in ten days’

time to have the stitches removed 쐽

verb to attach something with a needle

and thread 쑗 She stitched the badge to

his jacket.

stock

stock /stɒk/ noun 1 a supply of

some-thing kept to use when needed 쑗 I keep

a good stock of printing paper at home.

쑗 Our stocks of food are running low 쑗

The factory has large stocks of coal 2 a

liquid made from boiling bones in

wa-ter, used as a base for soups and sauces

쑗 Fry the onions and pour in some

chicken stock 쐽 verb to keep goods for

sale in a shop or warehouse 쑗 They

don’t stock this book 쑗 We try to stock

the most popular colours.

stocking

stocking /stɒkŋ/ noun a long light

piece of women’s clothing which covers

all of a leg and foot

stole

stole /stəυl/ past tense of steal

stolen

stolen /stəυlən/ past participle of steal

stomach

stomach /stmək/ noun 1 a part of the

body shaped like a bag, into which food

passes after being swallowed and where

it continues to be digested 쑗 I don’t

want anything to eat – my stomach’s

up-set or I have a stomach upup-set 쑗 He has

had stomach trouble for some time 2.

the front of your body between your

chest and your waist 쑗 He had been

kicked in the stomach.

stone

stone /stəυn/ noun 1 a very hard

mate-rial, found in the earth, used for building

쑗 All the houses in the town are built in

the local grey stone 쑗 The stone

carv-ings in the old church date from the 15th

century 쑗 Stone floors can be very cold.

(NOTE: no plural: some stone, a piece

of stone, a block of stone) 2 a small

piece of stone 쑗 The children were

play-ing at throwplay-ing stones into the pond 쑗

The beach isn’t good for bathing as it’s

covered with very sharp stones 3 a

British measure of weight equal to 14

pounds or 6.35 kilograms 쑗 She’s trying

to lose weight and so far has lost a stone

and a half 쑗 He weighs twelve stone ten

(i.e 12 stone 10 pounds) (NOTE: no plu-ral in this sense: He weighs ten stone

In the USA, human body weight is al-ways given only in pounds.)

stony

stony /stəυni/ adjective made of lots of

stones 쑗 They walked carefully across the stony beach.

stood

stood /stυd/ past tense and past

partici-ple of stand

stool

stool /

back 쑗 When the little girl sat on the pi-ano stool her feet didn’t touch the floor.

stoop

stooped and picked something up off the carpet 쑗 I found him standing at the ta-ble, stooped over a spreadsheet.

stop

stop /stɒp/ verb 1 not to move any more

쑗 The motorcycle didn’t stop at the red

lights 쑗 This train stops at all stations

to London Waterloo 2 to make

some-thing not move any more 쑗 The

police-man stopped the traffic to let the lorry back out of the garage 쑗 Stop that boy!

– he’s stolen my purse 3 not to do

something any more 쑗 The office clock

has stopped at 4.15 쑗 At last it stopped raining and we could go out 쑗 She spoke for two hours without stopping 쑗

We all stopped work and went home 쑗 The restaurant stops serving meals at

midnight 4 왍 to stop someone or

something (from) doing something to

make someone or something not do something any more 쑗 The rain stopped

us from having a picnic 쑗 How can the police stop people stealing cars? 쑗

Can’t you stop the children from making such a noise? 쑗 The plumber couldn’t

stop the tap dripping 5 to stay as a

vis-itor in a place 쑗 They stopped for a few

days in Paris 쑗 I expect to stop in Rome for the weekend (NOTE: stops –

something, especially of movement 쑗

The police want to put a stop to car

crimes 2 a place where you break a

journey 쑗 We’ll make a stop at the next

service station 3 a place where a bus or

train lets passengers get on or off 쑗 We

have been waiting at the bus stop for twenty minutes 쑗 There are six stops between here and Marble Arch.

stopper 310 strap

stopper

stopper /stɒpə/ noun an object that you

put into the mouth of a bottle or jar to

close it

store

store /

shop 쑗 You can buy shoes in any of the

big stores in town 쑗 Does the store

have a food department? 쐽verb 1 to

keep food etc to use later 쑗 We store

(away) all our vegetables in the garden

shed 2. to keep something in a

compu-ter file 쑗 We store all our personnel

records on computer.

storey

storey /

building

storm

storm /

bad weather 쑗 Several ships got into

dif-ficulties in the storm 쑗 How many trees

were blown down in last night’s storm?

stormy

stormy /

are storms 쑗 They are forecasting

stormy weather for the weekend (NOTE:

stormier – stormiest)

story

story /

tells things that did not really happen

but are invented by someone 쑗 The book

is the story of two children during the

war 쑗 She writes children’s stories

about animals 2 a description that tells

what really happened 쑗 She told her

sto-ry to the journalist (NOTE: The plural is

stories.)

stout

stout /staυt/ adjective 1 (of a person)

quite fat 쑗 He has become much stouter

and has difficulty going up stairs 2 (of

material) strong or thick 쑗 Take a few

sheets of stout paper 쑗 Find a stout

branch to stand on.

stove

stove /stəυv/ noun a piece of equipment

for heating or cooking

straight

straight /stret/ adjective 1 not curved

쑗 a long straight street 쑗 The line isn’t

straight 쑗 She has straight black hair 쑗

Stand up straight! 2 not sloping 쑗 Is the

picture straight? 쑗 Your tie isn’t

straight 쐽 adverb 1 in a straight line,

not curving 쑗 The road goes straight

across the plain for two hundred

kilome-tres 쑗 She was sitting straight in front

of you 2 immediately 쑗 Wait for me

here – I’ll come straight back 쑗 If there

is a problem, you should go straight to

the manager 3 without stopping or

changing 쑗 She drank the milk straight

out of the bottle 쑗 The cat ran straight across the road in front of the car 쑗 He looked me straight in the face 쑗 The plane flies straight to Washington.

straighten

straighten /stret(ə)n/ verb to make something straight

straightforward

straightforward /stret

jective easy to understand or carry out 쑗

The instructions are quite straightfor-ward.

strain

strain /stren/ noun 1 nervous feelings

caused by a busy or difficult situation 쑗

Can she stand the strain of working in

that office? 2 a variety of a living thing

쑗 They are trying to find a cure for a

new strain of the flu virus 쑗 He crossed two strains of rice to produce a variety which is resistant to disease 쐽 verb 1

to injure part of your body by pulling

too hard 쑗 He strained a muscle in his back or he strained his back 쑗 The

ef-fort strained his heart 2 to make great

efforts to do something 쑗 They strained

to lift the piano into the van 3 to pour

liquid through a sieve to separate solid

parts in it 쑗 Boil the peas for ten minutes

and then strain.

strange

strange /strend"/ adjective 1 not usual

쑗 Something is the matter with the

en-gine – it’s making a strange noise 쑗 She told some very strange stories about the firm she used to work for 쑗 It felt strange to be sitting in the office on a Saturday afternoon 쑗 It’s strange that

no one spotted the mistake 2 which

you have never seen before or where

you have never been before 쑗 I find it

difficult getting to sleep in a strange room 쑗 We went to Korea and had lots

of strange food to eat.

stranger

stranger /strend"ə/ noun 1 a person

whom you have never met 쑗 He’s a

complete stranger to me 쑗 Children are

told not to accept lifts from strangers 2.

a person in a place where he or she has

never been before 쑗 I can’t tell you how

to get to the post office – I’m a stranger here myself.

strap

strap /strp/ noun a long flat piece of

material used to attach something 쑗

Can you do up the strap of my bag for me? 쑗 I put a strap round my suitcase to