LXXII Flashcards
thump /θʌmp/
1) to hit someone very hard with your hand closed
“If you don’t shut up, I’m going to thump you!”
“She thumped the table with her fist.”
2) to hit against something loudly
“His feet thumped loudly on the bare boards.”
“He thumped his cup down on the table.”
3) to walk or run with your feet making a loud heavy sound as they touch the ground
“Stella came thumping down the stairs.”
4) if your heart thumps, it beats very strongly and quickly because you are frightened or excited
“My heart was thumping inside my chest.”
5) the dull sound that is made when something hits a surface
“The box fell to the floor with a thump.”
6) especially British English an action in which you hit someone or something
“If he does that again, I’ll give him a good thump.”
“ a thump on the jaw”
constraint /kənˈstreɪnt/
1) something that limits your freedom to do what you want SYN restriction constraint on "Constraints on spending have forced the company to rethink its plans." "the constraints of family life" financial/environmental/political etc constraints "There have been financial and political constraints on development." impose/place constraints on somebody/something "constraints imposed on teachers by large class sizes" 2) control over the way people are allowed to behave, so that they cannot do what they want "freedom from constraint"
coercion /kəʊˈɜːʃən/
the use of threats or orders to make someone do something they do not want to do
“The defendant explained that he had been acting under coercion.”
mull /mʌl/
1) usually mull something ↔ over to think about a problem, plan etc for a long time before making a decision SYN consider
“He’s mulling over the proposals before making any changes.”
“The company is mulling over a share offer.”
2) an area of land that sticks out into the sea – used in Scotland
“the Mull of Kintyre”
spear /spɪə/
1) a pole with a sharp pointed blade at one end, used as a weapon in the past
2) a thin pointed stem of a plant
“asparagus spears”
3) to push or throw a spear into something, especially in order to kill it
4) to push a pointed object, usually a fork, into something, so that you can pick it up
skewer /ˈskjuːə/
1) a long metal or wooden stick that is put through pieces of meat to hold them together while they are cooked
2) to make a hole through a piece of food, an object etc with a skewer or with some other pointed object
3) to criticize someone very strongly, often in a way that other people find humorous
“Du Bois skewered Washington’s policies in his book, ‘The Souls of Black Folks’.”
spit /spɪt/
1) to force a small amount of saliva (=the liquid in your mouth) out of your mouth
“Nick rolled down his window and spat.”
spit at/on/into
“A group of fans spat on the players as they left the field.”
2) to force something out of your mouth
“Billy stood up slowly, rubbed his jaw, and spat blood.”
spit something out
“Diana tasted her martini and quickly spat it out.”
3) to say something quickly in a very angry way
“‘Shut up!’, spat Maria furiously.”
4) to send out small bits of something, for example fire or hot oil, into the air
“A log fire was crackling and spitting in the hearth.”
5) if a cat spits, it makes short angry sounds
6) the watery liquid that is produced in your mouth SYN saliva
7) a long thin stick that you put through meat so that you can turn it when cooking it over a fire
8) a long narrow piece of land that sticks out into the sea, into a river etc
be within spitting distance (of something)
to be very close to someone or something
spit it out
used to ask someone to tell you something that they seem too frightened or embarrassed to say
“Come on, Jean. Spit it out!”
be the (dead) spit of somebody
to look exactly like someone else
“Sam is the dead spit of his dad.”
eke /iːk/
eke something ↔ out phrasal verb
1) eke out a living/existence to manage to live with very little money or food
“They eke out a miserable existence in cardboard shacks.”
2 )to make a small supply of something such as food or money last longer by carefully using small amounts of it
“How did she manage to eke out the food?”
idle /ˈaɪdl/
1) not working or producing anything OPP busy
“I cannot afford to leave the land lying idle.”
“The workers have been idle for the last six months.”
2) not serious, or not done with any definite intention
“She was not a woman to make idle threats.”
idle chatter/talk/gossip etc
“It was only from idle curiosity that she went into the barn.”
3) lazy
“Go and wake up that idle brother of yours.”
4) if an engine idles, it runs slowly while the vehicle, machine etc is not moving
“He flicked a switch and let the boat idle.”
5) to spend time doing nothing
“Sometimes he went for a walk; sometimes he just idled.”
6) to stop using a factory or stop providing work for your workers, especially temporarily SYN shut down
“The company has idled a number of its US plants indefinitely.”
epitaph /ˈepətɑːf/
a short piece of writing on the stone over someone’s grave
