0320 Flashcards
(10 cards)
gravitate to/towards
grav‧i‧tate /ˈɡrævɪteɪt/ verb [intransitive always + adverb/preposition]
formal to be attracted to something and therefore move towards it or become involved with it
gravitate to/towards
Most visitors to London gravitate to Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square.
→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
gravitate
• They’re gravitating to a large noisy mechanical crudely-lit fairground.
• As a kid, she was a superior all-around athlete, eventually gravitating to golf at age 14.
• Funnily enough, whenever he does this all the really interesting people in the room seem to gravitate to his chair.
• I feel stock returns will eventually gravitate to their historic norms of 10. 5 percent annually since 1925.
• There was always plenty to drink, and eventually the two would gravitate toward each other and dance very close.
• In the long run the economy will tend to gravitate towards a position of Walrasian equilibrium.
gravitate to/towards
• They’re gravitating to a large noisy mechanical crudely-lit fairground.
• In the long run the economy will tend to gravitate towards a position of Walrasian equilibrium.
• The people I gravitate to are dreamers.
• As a kid, she was a superior all-around athlete, eventually gravitating to golf at age 14.
• Funnily enough, whenever he does this all the really interesting people in the room seem to gravitate to his chair.
• Each pair in fact began to gravitate to opposite poles within the horizon which Dialectical Theology had opened up.
• I feel stock returns will eventually gravitate to their historic norms of 10. 5 percent annually since 1925.
Everytime I go back to my hometown, I gravitate to the temple.
I feel stock returns will eventually gravitate to their historic norms of 10. 5 percent annually since 1925.
It was also whereI was playing the most gigs, so to keep earning I naturally gravitated that way.
formal to be attracted to something and therefore move towards it or become involved with it
reap
…but actually it’s a case of the West reaping what it has sown.
you reap what you sow
1 [transitive] to get something, especially something good, as a result of what you have done
anti-semitism
semitic
anti-Sem‧i‧tis‧m /ˌæntɪ ˈsemətɪzəm/ noun [uncountable]
hatred of Jewish people
the struggle against fascism and anti-Semitism
► see thesaurus at prejudice
Examples from the Corpus
anti-Semitism
• During the 1930s, as anti-Semitism became an organized mass-movement, the league diversified.
• The experience supposedly deepened his already visceral anti-Semitism.
hatred of Jewish people
Se‧mit‧ic /səˈmɪtɪk/ adjective
1
a) belonging to the race of people that includes Jews, Arabs, and, in ancient times, Babylonians and Assyrians
b) relating to any of the languages of these people
2 another word for Jewish
→ anti-Semitic
Examples from the Corpus
Semitic
• This is because Western religion has come from a Semitic origin where life was serious as befits a desert people.
• Meleager was very conscious of his Semitic origins.
• He was also gaunt and cadaverous, and as dark as the Semitic people of the Holy Land.
• Anti-semitism was not ended, but was transferred to other Semitic peoples, the Arabs.
• I tan easily, being of Semitic stock.
squatter
squat
diddly-squat
We have to make a place for squatters.
someone who lives in an empty building or on a piece of land without permission and without paying rent
squat1 /skɒwt $ skwɑːt/ ●○○ verb (squatted, squatting) [intransitive]
1 Image of squatto sit with your knees bent under you and your bottom just off the ground, balancing on your feet
squat down
He squatted down beside the little girl.
2 to live in a building or on a piece of land without permission and without paying rent
squat2 adjective
short and thick or low and wide, especially in a way which is not attractive
squat stone cottages
a squat little old man
squat3 noun
1 [countable] a squatting position
2 [countable] British English a house that people are living in without permission and without paying rent
She lives in a squat in Camden.
3 [uncountable] American English informal nothing, or nearly nothing. Squat is often used in negative sentences for emphasis
He had a job that paid him squat.
You don’t know squat about it.
diddly-squat noun
Save Word
To save this word, you’ll need to log in.
did·dly-squat | \ ˈdi-dᵊl-ē-ˌskwät , ˈdid-lē- \ slang \: the least amount : anything at all didn't know diddly-squat about sports — Sam Toperoff
slum
I am afraid to go to slum area.
1 [countable] a house or an area of a city that is in very bad condition, where very poor people live
spend time at a lower social level than one’s own through curiosity or for charitable purposes.
favela
a Brazilian shack or shanty town; a slum.
buff
buff1 /bʌf/ noun
1 → wine/film/opera etc buff: someone who is interested in wine, films etc and knows a lot about them► see thesaurus at expert
2 [uncountable] a pale yellow-brown colour SYN beige
3 → in the buff: old-fashioned not wearing any clothes SYN naked
Origin:
1. (1900-2000) buff “someone very interested in going to watch fires” ((1900-2000)), from the buff-colored coats worn by volunteer New York City firefighters in the early 19th century.
2. (1700-1800) buff “yellow leather made from buffalo skin” ((16-18 centuries)), from Old French buffle “wild cattle”, from Old Italian bufalo; BUFFALO
3. (1800-1900) buff “bare skin” ((17-19 centuries)), from “leather”;
buff2 (also buff up) verb [transitive]
to polish something with a cloth
Sandra was buffing her nails.
Origin:
BUFF2 (1800-1900) → BUFF1; because leather was used for polishing
buff3 adjective 1 having a pale yellow-brown colour buff envelopes 2 informal attractive and looking as if you do a lot of exercise – used especially by young people He’s so buff!
###
My friend Bongani was a short, bald, super-buff guy.
a computer baff
in the buff: “people generally don’t go swimming in the buff in public places”
a person who is enthusiastically interested in and very knowledgeable about a particular subject.
2 informal attractive and looking as if you do a lot of exercise – used especially by young people
Gomorrah
The place was nicknamed Gomorrah for a reason.
Sodom and Gomorrah: a place or situation where people’s sexual behaviour is regarded as very shocking. These are the names of two ancient cities in the Middle East which, according to the Bible, were destroyed by God as a punishment for the immoral sexual behaviour of their people.
Sodom and Gomorrah, notoriously sinful cities in the biblical book of Genesis, destroyed by “sulfur and fire” because of their wickedness (Genesis 19:24). Sodom and Gomorrah along with the cities of Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar (Bela) constituted the five “cities of the plain,” and they are referenced throughout both the Old and New Testament and the Qurʾān.
Scriptural accounts
In the Genesis account, God reveals to Abraham that Sodom and Gomorrah are to be destroyed for their grave sins (18:20). Abraham pleads for the lives of any righteous people living there, especially the lives of his nephew, Lot, and his family. Abraham seems to negotiate with God on behalf of the righteous in the two cities. God first agrees to spare the cities if 50 righteous people can be found and eventually agrees to spare them if 10 righteous people can be found (18:23–32). Two angels, appearing as men, are sent to Lot in Sodom but are met with a wicked mob who ask for the newcomers. Lot offers the mob his daughters instead, but this only further enrages the mob, who are then struck blind by the angelic guests (19:1–11). Finding only Lot and his family as righteous among the inhabitants, the angels warn Lot to quickly evacuate the city and not look back. As they flee the destruction, Lot’s wife looks back upon the city and is turned into a pillar of salt (19:12–29).
cordon
Then you go through the industrial belt of Wynberg that cordons off the rish and white from the poor and black.
cor‧don1 /ˈkɔːdn $ ˈkɔːrdn/ noun [countable]
a line of police officers, soldiers, or vehicles that is put around an area to stop people going there
cordon of
A cordon of police surrounded the building.
cordon around
the security cordon around the capital
cordon something ↔ off phrasal verb
to surround and protect an area with police officers, soldiers, or vehicles
Police cordoned off the street where the murder took place.
Origin cordon1 (1700-1800) cordon “strip of cloth or decorative cord” ((16-21 centuries)), from French, from corde; → CORD
cord1 /kɔːd $ kɔːrd/ ●●○ noun
1 [countable, uncountable] a piece of thick string or thin rope
The robe was held at the waist by a cord.
He pulled explosives and some tangled cord from his bag.
2 → cords
3 [countable, uncountable] an electrical wire or wires with a protective covering, usually for connecting electrical equipment to the supply of electricity
the phone cord
an extension cord
4 [countable] American English a specific quantity of wood cut for burning in a fire
We use three cords of wood in a winter.
→ cut the cord, → communication cord, spinal cord, umbilical cord, vocal cords
cord2 adjective
cord clothes are made from corduroy
cor‧du‧roy /ˈkɔːdʒərɔɪ, -djə- $ ˈkɔːrdə-/ noun [uncountable]
a thick strong cotton cloth with thin raised lines on it, used for making clothes
a corduroy jacket
Corduroy is a textile with a distinctive texture—a raised “cord” or wale.
placid
One minute it’ll be a placid afternoon, people hanging out, doing their thing, and next thing you know there’s a cop car chasing gangsters,…
1 a placid person does not often get angry or upset and does not usually mind doing what other people want them to
2 calm and peaceful
