Day 41

Question 1

Slash

Answer 1

to cut with a sharp blade using a quick, strong movement:
- The museum was broken into last night and several paintings were slashed.
- She tried to commit suicide by slashing her wrists.
- We had to slash (our way) through the long grass to clear a path.

Question 2

To wail

Answer 2

to make a long, high cry, usually because of pain or sadness:
- The women gathered around the coffin and began to wail, as was the custom in the region.
- [ + speech ] “My finger hurts,” wailed the child.

Question 3

Giggle

Answer 3

to laugh repeatedly in a quiet but uncontrolled way, often at something silly or rude or when you are nervous:
- Stop that giggling in the back row!

Question 4

Grinding

Answer 4

grinding poverty
- a situation in which people are extremely poor over a long period

Question 5

Solitare

Answer 5

a single jewel (= precious stone) that is part of a piece of jewellery, especially a ring, or the ring itself:
- a solitaire diamond

Question 6

Bequeath

Answer 6

to arrange for money or property to be given to somebody after your death:
- Her father bequeathed her the family fortune in his will.
- Picasso bequeathed most of his paintings and sculptures to Spain and France.

Question 7

Wretch

Answer 7

a person who experiences something unpleasant:
- a poor/miserable wretch

Question 8

Immense

Answer 8

extremely large in size or degree:
- immense wealth/value
- They spent an immense amount of time getting the engine into perfect condition.

Question 9

Grimly

Answer 9

in a way that is without hope:
- Companies grimly hang on to markets at negligible profit margins, and finally give up.
- His assessment of the war is grimly pessimistic.

Question 10

Drizzle

Answer 10

rain in very small, light drops:
- Tomorrow will be cloudy with outbreaks of rain and drizzle.

Question 11

Eccentric

Answer 11

strange or unusual, sometimes in a humorous way:
- eccentric behaviour
- eccentric clothes

Question 12

Tempting

Answer 12

If something is tempting, you want to do or have it:
- a tempting offer
- That pie looks very tempting.
- [ + to infinitive ] It’s tempting to blame video games for violent behaviour in young men.

Question 13

Hysterical

Answer 13

unable to control your feelings or behaviour because you are extremely frightened, angry, excited, etc.:
- Calm down, you’re getting hysterical.
- The police were accused of hysterical over-reaction.
- hysterical laughter (= uncontrolled laughter)

Question 14

Exploit

Answer 14

to use something in a way that helps you:
- We need to make sure that we exploit our resources as fully as possible.
- More examples

Question 15

Devious

Answer 15

Devious people or plans and methods are dishonest, often in a complicated way, but often also clever and successful:
- You have to be devious if you’re going to succeed in business.

Question 16

Sly

Answer 16

deceiving people in a clever way in order to get what you want:
- He’s a sly old devil - I wouldn’t trust him with my money.

Question 17

Moniker

Answer 17

a name or nickname

Question 18

Liability

Answer 18

the fact that someone is legally responsible for something:
- He denies any liability for the damage caused.

Question 19

Spread out

Answer 19

If people spread out, they move from being close together in a group to being in different places across a larger area:
- They spread out to search the whole area.

Question 20

Stab

Answer 20

to injure someone with a sharp pointed object such as a knife:
- She was stabbed several times in the chest.
- He was jailed for 15 years for stabbing his wife to death.

Question 21

Distraught

Answer 21

extremely worried, nervous, or upset:
- The missing child’s distraught parents made an emotional appeal for information on TV.

Question 22

Woe

Answer 22

big problems or troubles:
- The country has been beset by economic woes for the past decade.
- Unusually poor harvests have added to the country’s woes.
extreme sadness:
- Her face was lined and full of woe.
- He told me a real tale of woe about how he had lost both his job and his house in the same week.

Question 23

Excruciatingly

Answer 23

in a way that is extreme and difficult to bear:
- Progress has been excruciatingly slow.
- excruciatingly painful/uncomfortable
- excruciatingly embarrassing/boring/funny

Question 24

Ransack

Answer 24

to search a place or container in a violent and careless way:
- The burglars ransacked the house but found nothing valuable.
- I ransacked the cupboard for my ski boots.

Question 25

Withhold

Answer 25

to refuse to give something or to keep back something:
to withhold information/support
- During the trial, the prosecution was accused of withholding crucial evidence from the defence.
- Police are withholding the dead woman’s name until her relatives have been informed.
- She withheld her rent until the landlord agreed to have the repairs done.
- The government is planning to withhold benefit payments from single mothers who refuse to name the father of their child.

Question 26

Foreboding

Answer 26

a feeling that something very bad is going to happen soon:
- There’s a sense of foreboding in the capital, as if fighting might at any minute break out.
- Her forebodings about the future were to prove justified.
[ + (that) ] He had a strange foreboding (that) something would go wrong.