give¹ /giv/

1. To bestow
2. To impart
3. To yield
4. To grant
5. To donate
6. To permit
7. To afford, provide
8. To pay or render (thanks, etc)
9. To pronounce (a judgement or decision)
10. To show (a result)
11. To apply (oneself)
12. To allow or admit

1. To yield to pressure
2. To begin to melt or soften
3. To grow soft
4. To open, or give an opening or view, to lead (with upon, on or into, a gallicism)
5. To donate

1. Yielding
2. Elasticity

givˈen adjective

1. Bestowed
2. Specified
3. Addicted, disposed (with to)
4. Granted
5. Admitted

Something that is assumed to be the case

givˈenness noun

givˈer noun

A person who or thing which gives or bestows

givˈing noun

1. The act of bestowing
2. The thing given

1. That gives
2. Generous, liberal

giveˈaway noun

1. A betrayal, revelation, esp if unintentional
2. Something given free or at a greatly reduced price, esp something offered with a product or service with the aim of increasing sales

given name noun

The name given to the individual, not that of the family, ie the first or Christian name, distinguished from the surname

give and take

1. Reciprocity in concession
2. Mutually compensatory variations
3. Fair exchange of repartee

give as good as one gets

To retort in equal measure in words or action

give away

1. To give for nothing
2. To betray
3. To bestow ceremonially (eg a bride)

give birth to

1. To bring forth, produce
2. To originate, begin, generate

give chase

To pursue

give ear (archaic)

To listen (to)

give forth

1. To emit
2. To publish
3. To expatiate, talk at length (informal)

give ground or place

To give way, yield

give head see under head

give in to (obsolete give into)

To yield to

give it to (someone) (informal)

To scold or beat (someone) severely

give it up for (informal)

To show one's appreciation to (a person) by cheering or applause

give line, head, rein, etc

To give more liberty or scope (the metaphors from angling and horse-riding)

give me (informal)

I would choose if I had the choice

give off

To emit (eg a smell)

give oneself away

To betray one's secret unawares

give or take

Allowing for an error of (a certain amount)

give out

1. To report, announce
2. To emit
3. To distribute to individuals
4. To expire
5. To relinquish (Shakespeare)

give over

1. To transfer
2. To desist from, to cease (Scot and N Eng dialect)

give over to

To set (a period of time) aside for a particular purpose

give place see give ground above.

give rein see give line above.

give the lie to

1. To accuse openly of falsehood
2. To prove wrong

give tongue see under tongue

give up

1. To abandon
2. To surrender
3. To desist from

give up the ghost see under ghost

give way

1. To fall back, yield, withdraw
2. To break, snap or collapse under strain
3. To begin rowing (usu as a command to a crew)
4. To allow traffic in a direction crossing one's path to proceed first

give way to

1. To yield to, submit to
2. To allow to take precedence, give priority to
3. To succumb to (eg grief)

what gives? (informal)

1. What's new?
2. What's happening?

go¹ /gō/

1. Used to express futurity or intent
2. To pass from one place to another
3. To be in motion
4. (of a path, etc) to lead or give access (to)
5. To proceed
6. To run (in words or notes)
7. (of verse) to flow smoothly
8. To walk (obsolete)
9. To depart
10. To work, to be in operation
11. (of eg a bell or gun) to sound
12. To make a (specified) noise, as in go bang, go moo
13. To take a direction, turn, follow a course
14. To extend
15. (with to) to attend once or habitually (the cinema, church, etc)
16. (of a rumour, story, etc) to be current
17. To be valid, hold true
18. To be reckoned, to be regarded (as)
19. To be known (by or under a name)
20. To be on the whole or ordinarily
21. To tend, serve as a means
22. To be or continue in a particular state (as in fear, in rags)
23. To elapse
24. To be sold
25. To be spent, consumed
26. To move or act in a way shown or specified
27. To be assigned or awarded (to)
28. (of colours, etc) to harmonize
29. To break down, fail
30. To die
31. (with by or (up)on) to be directed by, to act according to
32. (with on) to become chargeable to (an account, etc)
33. (with to) to subject oneself (to expense, trouble, etc)
34. (of a female) to be (eg a specific number of months) pregnant (with child, young, foal, etc)
35. (of a female animal) to copulate (with to)
36. To become, or become as if
37. To be considered generally as a concept
38. To be compared or ranked with others
39. To change to a new system, as in go decimal, go metric
40. To happen in a particular way
41. To be accepted as ultimately authoritative
42. To turn out
43. To fare
44. To contribute (to or towards a whole, purpose or result)
45. To be contained
46. To be able to pass
47. To be finished or done away with
48. To give way
49. To urinate (informal)
50. (with an infinitive without to) to move off with the intention of doing something, as in go see (N American; see also go and below)

1. To pass through or over
2. To stake, bet
3. To call, bid or declare (cards)
4. To eat or drink (a specific thing), usu in the phrase I could go a… (informal)
5. To say (used when reporting speech; dialect)

1. A going
2. A success (informal)
3. Energy, activity (informal)
4. A spell, turn, bout (informal)
5. A portion supplied at one time (informal)
6. An attempt (informal)
7. An affair, matter (informal; archaic)
8. (with the) the current fashion (informal; archaic)
9. A bargain, deal (informal; archaic)
10. Failure to play (cribbage)
11. A score for an opponent's failure to play (cribbage)

1. Ready
2. In perfect condition

(called to start a race, etc) begin

gōˈer noun

1. A lively, energetic person
2. A sexually promiscuous person, esp a woman
3. Used in combination, denoting a person who regularly goes to or attends a particular place, institution, etc, as in cinema-goer
4. Something that travels very fast

gōˈey adjective (informal)

Enterprising, go-ahead

gōˈing noun see separate entry

goˈ-ahead adjective

1. Dashing, energetic
2. Enterprisingly progressive

Permission to proceed

goˈ-around noun

1. An act or instance of going, taking a route, around something (as in air-traffic control, etc)
2. An evasion, runaround
3. A round, cycle, sequence (that is repeated)

goˈ-as-you-please adjective

1. Not limited by rules
2. Informal

goˈ-between noun (pl goˈ-betweens)

An intermediary

goˈ-by noun

1. Any intentional disregard, as in give (someone) the go-by
2. (in coursing) the act of passing by or ahead in motion
3. Escape by artifice
4. Evasion

goˈ-cart noun

1. A wheeled apparatus for teaching children to walk (archaic)
2. A form of child's carriage (archaic)
3. Same as go-kart below

goˈ-devil noun (oil)

A cylindrical plug with brushes, scrapers and rollers able to move, under the oil pressure, through a pipeline to clean it

goˈ-down noun

1. A cutting in the bank of a stream allowing animals to get to the water (US)
2. See also separate entry godown

go-faster stripes plural noun (informal; facetious)

Matching horizontal stripes painted along the sides of a car for sporty effect, which unaccountably give (esp young male) drivers of cars bearing them a sense of superior power and road skill

goˈ-forward noun (informal)

Momentum

goˈ-getter noun (informal)

A forceful ambitious person, determined to get what he or she wants

goˈ-getting adjective

Forcefully ambitious

goˈ-kart noun

1. A low racing vehicle consisting of a frame with wheels, engine, and steering gear (now often simply kart)
2. A child's home-made vehicle for riding on

goˈ-off noun (informal; old)

Start

go-slow see go slow below.

go'-to adjective (informal)

To be resorted to with confidence in an emergency

go-to-meeting see under Sunday

all systems go

1. Everything in the spacecraft is operating as it should
2. Everything in readiness

all the go (informal; old)

Very fashionable

a pretty go (archaic informal; ironic)

An awkward turn of events

as far as it goes

Bearing in mind certain limitations

at one go

In a single attempt or effort, simultaneously

be going on for

To be approaching (a particular age)

from the word go

From the very beginning

give it a go (informal)

To try, make an attempt at something

go about

1. To pass from place to place
2. To busy oneself with
3. To seek, endeavour to (with gerund)
4. (of a rumour, etc) to circulate
5. (of a ship) to change course

go about one's business

1. To attend to one's own affairs
2. To be off, to leave or depart

go abroad

1. To go to a foreign country or (old) out of doors
2. (of rumour, etc) to circulate

go against

1. To turn out unfavourably for
2. To be repugnant to
3. To be in conflict with

go ahead

To proceed at once

go all out for

To endeavour to achieve with great vigour

go along with

To agree with, support

go along with you (informal)

None of that!, away with you!, get away!

go and (informal)

1. To be so stupid or unfortunate as to (eg hurt oneself)
2. To go in order to (do something)

go around (or round) with

To be a regular companion of

go aside

1. To err (archaic)
2. To withdraw, retire

go at

To attack vigorously

go back

To have known someone for a long or specified time

go back on

To betray, fail to keep (a promise, etc)

go bail see under bail¹

go by

To be guided by or act in accordance with

go down

1. To sink, decline
2. To deteriorate
3. To be swallowed, believed, received or accepted (esp with pleasure)
4. (of a computer or other electronic system) to break down
5. To fail to fulfil one's contract (bridge)
6. To leave a university
7. To happen (US sl)
8. To be sent to prison (slang)
9. To be defeated in a competition

go down on (vulgar sl)

To perform fellatio or cunnilingus on

go down the drain, the toilet or the tubes (informal)

1. To be wasted
2. To become valueless

go down with (informal)

To contract (an illness)

go Dutch see under Dutch

go far

1. To go a long way (lit and figurative)
2. To achieve success

go for

1. To assail
2. To set out to secure
3. To go to get or fetch
4. To be attracted by (informal)
5. To be true of

go for broke see under broke

go for it (informal)

To make every effort to succeed in an undertaking

go for nothing

To have no value

go great guns see under gun

go halves see under half

go hang (slang)

1. To be forgotten, neglected
2. To be no longer of concern

go hard (with) see under hard¹

go in

1. To enter
2. (of the sun or moon) to become concealed behind cloud
3. To begin batting (cricket)

go in and out

To come and go freely

go in for

1. To make a practice of
2. To take up as a career or special interest
3. To take part in (a competition, etc)

go into

1. To enter
2. To examine thoroughly, investigate or elaborate on
3. To adopt as a profession, etc
4. (of a whole number) to be capable of dividing a number

go in unto (Bible)

To have sexual intercourse with

go in with

1. To enter into partnership with
2. To join, combine with

go it

To act in a striking or dashing manner (often in imperative by way of encouragement)

go it alone see under alone

go live /līv/ (informal; of a radio station, automation equipment, etc)

To go into operation

go native

To assimilate oneself to an alien culture or to the way of life of a foreign country (usu less advanced than one's own)

go off

1. To leave
2. To explode
3. (of an alarm) to sound
4. To deteriorate
5. (of food) to become rotten and inedible
6. To proceed to an expected conclusion
7. To cease to like or be fond of (a person, etc) (informal)
8. To go to sleep
9. To experience an orgasm (slang)
10. To scold, reprimand (with at; Aust sl)
11. To be raided by the police (old Aust sl)
12. To get married (old Aust sl)
13. To cease to operate
14. To die (Shakespeare)

go off with

1. To go away with
2. To remove, take away (informal)

go on

1. To continue, proceed
2. An exclamation expressing disbelief (informal)
3. To behave, conduct oneself (informal)
4. To happen, as in What's going on?
5. To talk at length (informal)
6. To be capable of being fitted onto
7. To appear on stage
8. To fare
9. To begin to function
10. To proceed from (as in nothing to go on)

go on at

To carp at persistently

go one better

In some card games, to take a bet and increase the stake (also go better)

go one better (than)

1. To outdo, excel
2. To cap a performance
3. To achieve something more impressive, effective, etc (than someone or something)

go one's own way, go one's way see under way¹

go out

1. To become extinguished
2. To become unfashionable
3. To be broadcast
4. To mingle in society (old)

go out with

To have a romantic relationship with

go over

1. To examine or check in review
2. To recall
3. To revise

go over to

To transfer allegiance to

go places

1. To travel widely
2. To go far in personal advancement

go round

To be enough for all

go slow

(of workers) deliberately to restrict output or effort in order to obtain concessions from employers (go-slowˈ adjective and noun)

go slow with

To be sparing with

go steady

To court romantically, date regularly (with with)

go the whole hog see under whole

go through

1. To perform to the end, often perfunctorily
2. To examine in order
3. To undergo
4. To be approved
5. To use up or spend (informal)

go through fire and water

To undertake any trouble or risks (from the usage in ancient ordeals)

go through with

To carry out

go to (archaic)

Come now (a kind of interjection, like the L agedum, the Gr age nyn)

go to pieces see under piece

go to show (or prove)

To serve as an illustration for or as evidence of

go to the country see under country

go to the wall see under wall

go under

1. To become submerged, overwhelmed or ruined, eg (of a business) to fail, fold
2. To die (archaic)

go up

1. To ascend
2. To be erected
3. To be destroyed by fire or explosion
4. (of costs, prices, etc) to increase
5. To enter a university

go with

1. To accompany
2. To agree with, accord with
3. To court romantically

go without

To suffer the lack of

go without saying

To be self-evident (a Gallicism; Fr cela va sans dire)

great go

1. At Cambridge University, a degree examination, contrasted with little go (last held in 1961), a preliminary examination
2. At Oxford University, Greats (obsolete)

have a go (informal)

1. To make an attempt
2. (of a member of the public) to tackle a criminal

have a go at (informal)

1. To criticize severely
2. To attack physically
3. To tease or pick on

have something going for one (informal)

To enjoy the advantage of something

I could go (informal)

I could do with, I wouldn't mind (a drink, rest, etc)

let go see under let¹

make a go of

To make a valiant attempt to succeed at something

no go

1. Not possible
2. Futile
3. In vain

no-go area

A part of a city, etc to which normal access is prevented by the erection of barricades, esp by local militants, a paramilitary group, etc

on the go

Very active

to be going on with (informal)

For the moment, in the meantime

to go (usu N American)

(of food or drink from a restaurant or cafe) to be consumed off the premises

umbrage /umˈbrij/

1. Offence, esp in the phrases give and take umbrage
2. Suspicion of injury
3. Shade, shadow, or something that casts a shadow (archaic or poetic)
4. A shelter (obsolete)
5. A shadowy appearance (rare)
6. A pretext, colour (obsolete)
7. An inkling (obsolete)

1. To shade
2. To offend (rare)

umbrāˈgeous adjective

Shady or forming a shade

umbrāˈgeously adverb

umbrāˈgeousness noun

wall /wöl/

1. An erection of brick, stone, etc, for security or to enclose a space such as a piece of land
2. The side of a building or of a room
3. A very steep smooth rock face (mountaineering)
4. (in pl) fortifications
5. Any bounding or encasing surface suggestive of a wall, eg the membranous covering or lining of an organ of the body or of a plant or animal cell
6. The side next to the wall
7. A defence, means of security (figurative)
8. A psychological and physiological barrier to further effort, encountered eg by long-distance runners (figurative)
9. (in mah-jong) the arrangement of the tiles before the hands are drawn
10. One of the surfaces of rock enclosing the lode (mining)

1. To enclose with, or as if with, a wall
2. To fortify with, or as if with, walls
3. To divide as if by a wall

Growing on, living in, for hanging on, or otherwise relating to a wall

walled adjective

1. Enclosed with a wall
2. Fortified

wallˈer noun

A builder of walls

wallˈing noun

1. Walls collectively
2. Materials for walls

wallˈ-less adjective

wall bars plural noun

Horizontal bars fixed to a wall, used by gymnasts

wallˈboard noun

Building-board, board for lining walls, consisting of plaster or wood fibre compressed between layers of thick paper

wall brown noun

A brown butterfly with orange markings, Lasiommata megera

wallˈchart noun

A chart of information, statistics, etc, displayed on a wall

wallˈclimber noun (informal)

A glass-walled elevator whose shaft is on the exterior wall of a building

wallˈcovering noun

Wallpaper, or anything used in the same way

wallˈcreeper noun

A Eurasian songbird related to the nuthatch

wall cress noun

Rockcress, or any species of Arabis

walled garden noun

1. A garden enclosed within high walls
2. A controlled secure environment, such as an Internet service with restrictions preventing those using it from accessing anything beyond its confines

wallˈeye noun see separate entry.

wallˈ-facing noun

A facing for a wall

wallˈfish noun (dialect)

A snail

wallˈflower noun

1. A plant (Cheiranthus cheiri) with yellow, orange or orange-brown flowers, found esp on old walls
2. Any of various cultivars of this, with various-coloured flowers
3. A person who remains a spectator at a dance, typically a woman who cannot obtain partners (informal)
4. A yellowish-red colour (also wallflower brown)

wall fruit noun

1. A fruit tree growing against a wall
2. Its fruit

wall game noun

(also Eton wall game) a variety of football played at Eton against a wall (‘at the wall’ instead of ‘in the field’)

wall gillyflower noun

A wallflower

wall knot or (properly) wale knot noun

A nautical method of tying the strands at the end of a rope

wall lizard or wall newt noun

A common lizard living in the chinks of walls

wall moss noun

1. A yellow lichen
2. The common stonecrop

wall mustard or wall rocket noun

A yellow-flowered cruciferous plant (genus Diplotaxis) of walls, quarries, etc

wall of death noun

A fairground show in which a stunt-performer rides a motorcycle, at right angles to the ground, round the interior walls of a cylindrical enclosure

wall painting noun

1. The decoration of walls with ornamental painted designs
2. A work of art painted on a wall

wallˈpaper noun

1. Paper, usu coloured or decorated, for pasting on the walls of a room
2. Something of a bland or background nature, lacking originality or noteworthiness, etc (figurative; informal)
3. A background pattern on a computer screen

transitive verb

To cover with wallpaper

wall pass noun (football)

A one-two

wall pepper noun

The common stonecrop

wall plate noun

A horizontal piece of timber or of rolled steel on a wall, etc, to bear the ends of joists, etc

wall rue noun

A small fern growing on walls, etc, one of the spleenworts

wall space noun

Space on a wall, eg on which to hang a picture

Wall Street noun

1. A street in New York, the chief financial centre in the United States
2. Hence, American financial interests

Wallˈ-Streeter noun

A financier based in Wall Street

wallˈ-to-wallˈ adjective

1. (of carpets, etc) covering the entire floor
2. Widespread, ubiquitous or uninterrupted (figurative; informal)

wall tree noun

A tree trained against a wall

wall unit noun

A piece of furniture attached to or standing against a wall

wallˈwasher noun

A light designed to give overall illumination to a wall or other vertical surface

wallˈwort noun

1. A name applied to various plants growing on walls, eg pellitory (Parietaria officinalis), wall pepper, etc
2. See also separate entry

drive to the wall

To push to extremities

go to the wall (or obsolete walls)

1. To be hard pressed
2. To be forced to give way
3. To fail, go under
4. To give precedence to something else

hang by the wall

To remain unused

off the wall (US sl)

1. Off the cuff, unofficially, without preparation
2. Unorthodox, strange

push or thrust to the wall

To force to give way

the wall

The right of taking the side of the road near the wall when encountering another person, as in the phrase give or take the wall

turn one's face to the wall

To resign oneself to death or despair

up the wall (informal)

Mad, distracted

wall a rope

To make a wall knot on the end of a rope

walls have ears see under ear¹

wall up

1. To block with a wall
2. To entomb in or behind a wall

with one's back to the wall

1. In desperate straits
2. At bay

• live circuit
• live circuits
• -lived
• lived
• lived-in
• live down
• live-feathers
• live for
• live in
• live-in
• live in a glass house
• live in clover
• live in sin
• live it up
• livelier
• liveliest
• livelihead
• liveliheads
• livelihood
• livelihoods
• live like a lord
• live like fighting cocks
• livelily
• liveliness
• livelinesses