unit 1 headway upper intermediate Flashcards
read the quote
/kwoʊt/
1 [intransitive, transitive] to repeat exactly what someone else has said or written
quote from
She quoted from a newspaper article.
He quoted a short passage from the Bible.
A military spokesman was quoted as saying that the border area is now safe.
quote somebody on something
Can I quote you on that?
2 [transitive] to give a piece of information that is written down somewhere
You can order by phoning our hotline and quoting your credit card number.
He quoted a figure of 220 deaths each year from accidents in the home.
3 [transitive] to give something as an example to support what you are saying SYN cite
Mr Jackson quoted the case of an elderly man who had been evicted from his home.
quote something as something
He quoted the example of France as a country with a good rail service.
The nurses’ union was quoted as an example of a responsible trade union.
4 [transitive] to tell a customer the price you will charge them for a service or product
They quoted a price of £15,000.
quote something for something
The firm originally quoted £6,000 for the whole job.
5 [transitive] to give the price of a share or currency
The pound was quoted this morning at just under $1.46.
The company is now quoted on the stock exchange (=people can buy and sell shares in it).
6 → (I) quote
7 → quote … unquote
see sth with new eyes
MS
at last
at (long) last
if something happens at last, it happens after you have been hoping, waiting, or working for it a long time
At last it was time to leave.
We reached the summit at last.
go mad for sth
you would go mad for the views
flew
/fluː/ verb
the past tense of fly
swam alongside
/swæm/ verb
the past tense of swim1
/əˌlɒŋˈsaɪd $ əˌlɒːŋ-/ ●●○ W3 adverb, preposition
1 next to the side of something
A car drew up alongside.
Children’s prices are shown alongside adult prices.
2 used to say that people or things do something or exist together at the same time
Charles spent a week working alongside the miners.
Organized crime continued to flourish alongside the mainstream economy.
3 in comparison with something
His achievement may seem small alongside the great triumphs of 20th-century technology.
Athletics should rank alongside (=be equal to) soccer and cricket as a major sport.
get seasick
/ˈsiːˌsɪk/ adjective
feeling ill when you travel in a boat, because of the movement of the boat in the water
get/feel/be seasick
Hal was seasick almost at once
the mega-famous
giant
ˈdʒaɪənt/ ●●● S3 W2 adjective [only before noun]
extremely big, and much bigger than other things of the same type
a giant electronics company
a giant tortoise
tortoises
/ˈtɔːtəs $ ˈtɔːr-/ noun [countable]
a slow-moving land animal that can pull its head and legs into the hard round shell that covers its body → turtle
colloquial language
/kəˈləʊkwiəl $ -ˈloʊ-/ ●○○ adjective
language or words that are colloquial are used mainly in informal conversations rather than in writing or formal speech
* You shouldn’t use phrases like “sort of” in essays – they’re too colloquial.
get this
you won’t believe this
kind of weird
fairly strange
don’t freak
coolest of all
my buddy
i don’t get it
hanging out together
worldwide
/ˌwɜːldˈwaɪd◂ $ ˌwɜːrld-/ ●●○ adjective, adverb
everywhere in the world → globally
We have offices in over 56 countries worldwide.
cars with a worldwide reputation for reliability
zoom down
/zuːm/ verb [intransitive] informal
1 [always + adverb/preposition] to go somewhere or do something very quickly SYN whizz, zip
zoom off/around/down etc
Brenda jumped in the car and zoomed off.
The work was really easy and I was able to zoom through it in a couple of hours.
2 (also zoom up) to increase suddenly and quickly SYN escalate
zoom to
Inflation zoomed to 123%.
sweeper
/ˈswiːpə $ -ər/ noun [countable]
1 someone or something that sweeps
a road sweeper
the vast network
/vɑːst $ væst/ ●●○ W2 adjective
1 extremely large SYN huge
vast amounts/numbers/quantities/sums etc (of something)
The government will have to borrow vast amounts of money.
The refugees come across the border in vast numbers.
vast areas/expanses/tracts etc (of something)
vast areas of rainforest
In the past five years, there has been a vast improvement in graduation rates.
► see thesaurus at big
2 → the vast majority (of something)
fateful nap
short sleep
ˈfeɪtfəl/ adjective [usually before noun]
having an important, especially bad, effect on future events
fateful day/night/year etc
The goalkeeper on that fateful day in 1954 was Fred Martin.
When his rent was raised, he made the fateful decision to move north.
was nowhere to be seen
hordes of people
/hɔːd $ hɔːrd/ noun [countable]
a large crowd moving in a noisy uncontrolled way
horde of
There were hordes of people inside the station
notorious for its slums
/nəʊˈtɔːriəs, nə- $ noʊ-, nə-/ ●○○ adjective
famous or well known for something bad SYN infamous
a notorious computer hacker
notorious cases of human rights abuses
notorious for
a judge notorious for his cruelty and corruption
/slʌm/ ●○○ noun
1 [countable] a house or an area of a city that is in very bad condition, where very poor people live
a slum area
slum housing
the slums of London
sleeping rough
sleeping on the streets
to sleep outside with nothing to protect you from the weather, especially because you have no home to live in
the number of people sleeping rough on the street
→ rough
fend for himself
look After himself
to look after yourself without needing help from other people
The kids had to fend for themselves while their parents were away.
fend somebody/something off
to defend yourself against someone who is attacking you SYN fight somebody ↔ off
Tabitha threw up an arm to fend her attacker off.
2 to defend yourself from something such as difficult questions, competition, or a situation you do not want to deal with
She uses her secretary to fend off unwanted phone calls.
The company managed to fend off the hostile takeover bid.
beggar
/ˈbeɡə $ -ər/ ●○○ noun [countable]
1 someone who lives by asking people for food and money
the beggars on the streets
beggars can’t be choosers
used to say that, when you have no money or no power to choose, you have to accept whatever you are given
settle down well in
become accustomed
illiterate five-year-old
ɪˈlɪtərət/ adjective
1 someone who is illiterate has not learned to read or write
2 badly written, in an uneducated way
It was an illiterate letter, full of mistakes.
3 → economically/politically/scientifically etc illiterate
vivid memories
ˈvɪvɪd/ ●●○ adjective
1 vivid memories, dreams, descriptions etc are so clear that they seem real OPP vague /veɪɡ/
I’ve got vivid memories of that summer.
He had a vivid picture of her in his mind.
2 → vivid imagination
3 vivid colours or patterns are very bright
his vivid blue eyes
hit on
an strategy1 (also hit upon something) to have an idea or discover something suddenly or unexpectedly SYN come up with
Then we hit on the idea of asking viewers to donate money over the Net.
2 American English informal to talk to someone in a way that shows you are sexually attracted to them
Dave has hit on most of the women in the department.
→ hit→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
hit on the idea of
came up
to think of an idea, answer etc
Is that the best excuse you can come up with?
We’ve been asked to come up with some new ideas.
2 informal to produce an amount of money
We wanted to buy the house but we couldn’t come up with the cash.
How am I supposed to come up with $10,000?
rough distance
not exact, not containing many details, or not in a final form SYN approximate
old and shabby
/ˈʃæbi/ ●○○ adjective
1 shabby clothes, places, or objects are untidy and in bad condition because they have been used for a long time
Hugh’s jacket was old and shabby.
a shabby little restaurant
2 wearing clothes that are old and worn
a shabby tramp
3 old-fashioned unfair and unkind
a shabby trick
struck gold
to be very lucky, o do something that makes you a lot of money
Jackie eventually struck gold with her third novel.
sth would get the better of somebody
if your feelings or wishes get the better of you, they make you behave in a way you would not normally behave
My curiosity finally got the better of me and I opened the letter.
I think her nerves got the better of her.
b) to defeat someone or deal successfully with a problem
grasping
understanding
ɡrɑːspɪŋ $ ˈɡræs-/ adjective
too eager to get money and unwilling to give any of it away or spend it
Hanson was a hard, grasping man
she had long feared I was dead
venture as far as calcutta
ˈventʃə $ -ər/ ●○○ noun [countable]
a new business activity that involves taking risks
business/commercial venture
joint venture (=when two companies do something together)
foul play
//faʊl//a crime
if the police think someone’s death was caused by foul play, they think that person was murdered
The police said they had no reason to suspect foul play.
Detectives have not ruled out foul play.
2 an action that is dishonest, unfair, or illegal, especially one that happens during a sports game
the wish was granted
to give someone something or allow them to have something that they have asked for
star-studded
adjective [only before noun]
including many famous performers
a star-studded cast
overtaking on a bend
on driving
want a ride?
hop in
hop a plane/bus/train etc
to get on a plane, bus, train etc, especially after suddenly deciding to do so
So we hopped a bus to Phoenix that night.
the drag is
something or someone that is boring
Don’t be such a drag! Come to the party.
b) something that is annoying and continues for a long time
It’s a real drag having to travel so far to work every day.
took a drag
he act of breathing in smoke from your cigarette
Frank took a drag on his cigarette
chocolate mousse
a sweet food made from a mixture of cream, eggs, and fruit or chocolate, which is eaten when it is cold
how come
sed to ask someone why or how something happened
How come you’ve ended up here?
‘Last I heard, she was teaching in Mexico.’ ‘How come?’
make a party
look stress out
to make someone so worried or nervous that they cannot relax
Studying for exams always stresses me out.
i’d drop in
a drop-in place is a place offering a service or support where you can go without having to make arrangements first
a drop-in advice centre
feel up to going out
to have the strength, energy etc to do something
I just didn’t feel up to going.
you would swing it for us
spoken to arrange for something to happen, although it takes a lot of effort to do this
We managed to swing it so that they will travel together.
that’s as maybe
have a lot on
to be very busy, with a large number of things to do in a short time
I can’t help you now – I’ve got rather a lot on.
that’s a drag
all year round
house-proud
/ˈhaʊspraʊd/ adjective
British English spending a lot of time on keeping your house clean and tidy
house plants
career girl
house-warming party
home-made
home-grown
