Browse dictionary
Showing 1-20 of 191 results in 191 entries
1. alpha, n. and adj. View full entry ?c1200
...(The name of) the first letter (Α, α) of the Greek alphabet, corresponding to English a....
2. analogue, n. and adj. View full entry 1808
...Zool. and Bot. Originally: an extant species which corresponds to a fossil form. Later more widely: a species or group of organisms in one region, ecosystem, or geological period...
3. animal, n. View full entry a1398
...A living organism which feeds on organic matter, typically having specialized sense organs and a nervous system and able to respond rapidly to stimuli; any living creature, including man....
4. back-, comb. form View full entry ?c1225
...General senses in combination....
5. ball, n.1 View full entry 1166
...A rounded hill, a knoll. Now Eng. regional (south-west.)....
6. barn-door, n. View full entry ?1544
...The large door of a barn. (Applied humorously to a target too large to be easily missed, and, in Cricket, to a player that blocks every ball.)...
7. bath, n.1 View full entry 864
...The action of bathing or immersing the body, or a part of it, in water or other liquid. (Used playfully of accidental or involuntary immersion.)...
8. bit bucket, n. View full entry 1964
...A notional location in which lost or discarded data is said to be collected....
9. black, adj. and n. View full entry eOE
...Designating the darkest colour possible, that of soot, coal, the sky on a moonless night in open country, and a small hole in a hollow object; of or having this colour; (also)...
10. blue, adj. and n. View full entry c1300
...Of a colour of the spectrum intermediate between green and violet, as of the sky or deep sea on a clear day....
11. bottle, n.2 View full entry c1375
...A vessel with a narrow neck for holding liquids, now usually made of glass; originally of leather....
12. brain, n. View full entry eOE
...The organ contained in the skull of humans and other vertebrates, consisting of soft grey or white tissue with (esp. in mammals) a conspicuously convoluted surface. Also (as a mass noun): the...
13. branch, n. View full entry 1297
...A portion or limb of a tree or other plant growing out of the stem or trunk, or out of one of the boughs; in a more specific sense, a branch...
14. button, n. View full entry c1320
...A knob or stud of metal or other material sewn by a shank or neck to articles of dress, usually for the purpose of fastening one part of the dress to another...
15. call, v. View full entry a1000
...To utter one's voice loudly, forcibly, and distinctly, so as to be heard at a distance; to shout, cry: often emphasized by out, to cry out. Const. to,...
16. chalder, n.1 View full entry a1500
...An obsolete dry measure of capacity: in Scotland 16 bolls or 64 firlots of corn, making nearly 12 quarters Winchester measure: used in the computation of the stipends of the parish ministers....
17. cheese, n.1 View full entry a1000
...A substance used as food, consisting of the curd of milk (coagulated by rennet) separated from the whey and pressed into a solid mass....
18. chest, n.1 View full entry a700
...A box, a coffer; now mostly applied to a large box of strong construction, used for the safe custody of articles of value....
19. child, n. View full entry c950
...The unborn or newly born human being; fœtus, infant. App. originally always used in relation to the mother as the ‘fruit of the womb’....
20. comb, n. View full entry a700
...A strip of wood, bone, horn, metal, etc., with indentations forming a series of teeth, or with teeth inserted, along one or both edges; used for disentangling, cleaning, and arranging the hair,...
