LXXV Flashcards
devote /dɪˈvəʊt/
1) to use all or most of your time, effort etc in order to do something or help someone SYN dedicate
devote your time/energy/attention etc to something
“He devoted his energies to writing films.”
devote yourself to something
“She devoted herself full-time to her business.”
2) to use a particular area, period of time, or amount of space for a specific purpose
devote something to something
“The meeting will be devoted to health and safety issues.”
aesthetic /iːsˈθetɪk/
1) connected with beauty and the study of beauty
“From an esthetic point of view, it’s a nice design.”
“a work of great aesthetic appeal”
2) a set of principles about beauty or art
“a new aesthetic”
aesthetics
the study of beauty, especially beauty in art
weigh somebody/something ↔ up
1) to consider something carefully so that you can make a decision about it
“We’re still weighing up the pros and cons (=the advantages and disadvantages) of the two options.”
2) to watch someone and listen to them carefully so that you can form an opinion about what they are like
“I could see that he was weighing me up.”
rash /ræʃ/
1) if you are rash, you do things too quickly, without thinking carefully about whether they are sensible or not → foolish
“Please Jessie, don’t do anything rash.”
“Don’t go making any rash decisions about your future!”
“It was rather rash of you to lend them your car.”
2) a lot of red spots on someone’s skin, caused by an illness
“She had a nasty rash on her arm.”
come/break out in a rash (=get a rash)
“My mother comes out in a rash if she eats seafood.”
nappy rash British English, diaper rash American English
“Most babies get nappy rash at some stage.”
get across
to succeed in communicating an idea or piece of information to someone, or to be communicated successfully
get something ↔ across
“It took him ages to get his point across.”
“We must get across the simple fact that drugs are dangerous.”
“The message isn’t getting across.”
to
“It is important that we get this message across to voters.”
coax /kəʊks/
1) to persuade someone to do something that they do not want to do by talking to them in a kind, gentle, and patient way
“‘Please, Vic, come with us, ’ Nancy coaxed.”
coax somebody into/out of (doing) something
“We had to coax Alan into going to school.”
coax somebody to do something
“We watched the bear coax its cubs to enter the water.”
coax somebody down/out/back etc
“Firefighters managed to coax the man down from the roof.”
2) to make something such as a machine do something by dealing with it in a slow, patient, and careful way
coax something out of/from/into etc something
“He coaxed a fire out of some dry grass and twigs.”
“The driver coaxed his bus through the snow.”
elicit /ɪˈlɪsɪt/
to succeed in getting information or a reaction from someone, especially when this is difficult
“When her knock elicited no response, she opened the door and peeped in.”
elicit something from somebody
“The test uses pictures to elicit words from the child.”
stir somebody/something ↔ up
1) to deliberately try to cause arguments or bad feelings between people
“John was always stirring up trouble in class.”
“Dave’s just trying to stir things up because he’s jealous.”
2) to make small pieces of something move around in the air or in water
“The wind had stirred up a powdery red dust.”
poke /pəʊk/
1) to quickly push your finger or some other pointed object into something or someone
poke somebody/something with something
“Andy poked the fish with his finger to see if it was still alive.”
poke somebody in the eye/arm/ribs etc
“Be careful with that umbrella or you’ll poke someone in the eye.”
poke at
“He was poking at the dust with a stick, making little patterns.”
2) to move or push something through a space or opening
poke something in/into/through something
“He poked a hand into one of his pockets.”
“One of the nurses poked her head around the door.”
3) if something is poking through or out of something else, you can see part of it but not all of it
poke out
“Ella looked at the tiny face poking out of the blanket.”
poke through
“Weeds had started poking through the cracks in the patio.”
4) a criticism of someone or something
“Bennett took a poke at the president’s refusal to sign the bill.”
dearth /dɜːθ/
a lack of something that people want or need
dearth of
“a dearth of job opportunities”
