GRE for jishi 39 - 40

sheen

adj. (rare, poetic) beautiful, good-looking, attractive; radiant; shiny. n. splendor; radiance; shininess. v. To shine; to glisten. n. The letter ش in the Arabic script. Up rose each warrier bold and brave, / Glistening in filed steel and armor sheen. This town, / That, sheening far, celestial seems to be.

seam / seamy

seam n. (sewing) A folded back and stitched piece of fabric; especially, the stitching that joins two or more pieces of fabric. A suture. A thin stratum, especially of coal or mineral. (cricket) The stitched equatorial seam of a cricket ball; the sideways movement of a ball when it bounces on the seam. An old English measure of grain, containing eight bushels. An old English measure of glass, containing twenty-four weys of five pounds, or 120 pounds. (construction) A joint formed by mating two separate sections of materials. A line or depression left by a cut or wound; a scar; a cicatrix. (figuratively) A line of junction; a joint. v. To put together with a seam. To make the appearance of a seam in, as in knitting a stocking; hence, to knit with a certain stitch, like that in such knitting. To mark with a seam or line; to scar. To crack open along a seam. (cricket) Of the ball, to move sideways after bouncing on the seam. (cricket) Of a bowler, to make the ball move thus. n. (UK, dialect, obsolete) grease; tallow; lard Seams can be made or sealed in a variety of ways, including adhesive bonding, hot-air welding, solvent welding, using adhesive tapes, sealant, etc. Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. [...] Frills, ruffles, flounces, lace, complicated seams and gores: not only did they sweep the ground and have to be held up in one hand elegantly as you walked along, but they had little capes or coats or feather boas. As white glass was 6s. the 'seam', containing 24 'weys' (pise, or pondera) of 5 lb., and 2½ lb. was reckoned sufficient to make one foot of glazing, the cost of glass would be 1½d. leaving 2½d. for labour. Precepts should be so finely wrought together [...] that no coarse seam may discover where they join. Seamed o'er with wounds which his own sabre gave. Later their lips began to parch and seam. Thus, seamed with many scars, / Bursting these prison bars, / Up to its native stars / My soul ascended! seamy adj. Sordid, squalid or corrupt. Having or showing a seam. Lou Reed, lead singer of the Velvet Underground, veteran chronicler of life's wilder, seamier and more desperate side and one of the most influential and distinctive songwriters of his generation has died at the age of 71. She just hadn't been aware, having considered such tales rather seamy while growing up.

secretive / secrecy

secretive adj. Having an inclination to secrecy. secrecy adj. Concealment; the condition of being secret or hidden The habit of keeping secrets.

singe

/sɪnd͡ʒ/ v. (transitive) To burn slightly. (transitive) To remove the nap of (cloth), by passing it rapidly over a red-hot bar, or over a flame, preliminary to dyeing it. (transitive) To remove the hair or down from (a plucked chicken, etc.) by passing it over a flame. n. A burning of the surface; a slight burn. I singed the toes of an ape through a burning glass.

slack

n. (uncountable) Small coal; coal dust. (countable) A valley, or small, shallow dell. (uncountable) The part of anything that hangs loose, having no strain upon it. (countable) A tidal marsh or shallow, that periodically fills and drains. adj. Lax; not tense; not hard drawn; not firmly extended. Weak; not holding fast. Remiss; backward; not using due diligence or care; not earnest or eager. Not violent, rapid, or pressing. (slang, West Indies) vulgar; sexually explicit, especially in dancehall music adv. Slackly. v. To slacken. (obsolete) To mitigate; to reduce the strength of. (followed by "off") to procrastinate; to be lazy (followed by "off") to refuse to exert effort To lose cohesion or solidity by a chemical combination with water; to slake. The slack of a rope or of a sail. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness. "They know our boats will stand up to their work," said Willison, "and that counts for a good deal. A low estimate from us doesn't mean scamped work, but just for that we want to keep the yard busy over a slack time." Business is slack. In this business of growing rich, poor men [...] should slack their pace.

slouch

-aʊtʃ n. A hanging down of the head; a drooping posture; a limp appearance any depression or hanging down, as of a hat brim. someone who is slow to act (dated) An awkward, heavy, clownish fellow. v. (intransitive) To hang or droop; to adopt a limp posture (intransitive) To walk in a clumsy, lazy manner. He sat with an unenthusiastic slouch. The plant hung in a permanent slouch. In any case, Scotland has been no slouch at national invention. The Greek temple to commemorate James Thomson wasn't the only monument raised by the 11th Earl of Buchan, who was a friend and neighbour of Walter Scott, and as great a romancer in his obsession with ruins, battlements and fancy dress. Do not slouch when playing a flute. I slouched to the fridge to see if there was anything to eat.

slew

/sluː/ n. (US) A large amount. She has a slew of papers and notebooks strewn all over her desk. n. The act, or process of slaying. A device used for slaying. A change of position. v. (transitive, nautical) To rotate or turn something about its axis. (transitive) To veer a vehicle. (transitive) To insert extra ticks or skip some ticks of a clock to slowly correct its time. (intransitive) To pivot. (intransitive) To skid. (transitive, rail transport) to move something (usually a railway line) sideways (transitive, UK, slang) To make a public mockery of someone through insult or wit. The single line was slewed onto the disused up formation to make way for the future redoubling

shoddy

adj. Being of poor quality or construction n. A low-grade cloth made from by-products of wool processing, or from recycled wool. Do not settle for shoddy knives if you are serious about cooking. To fill contracts for hundreds of thousands of uniforms, textile manufacturers compressed the fibers of recycled woolen goods into a material called "shoddy".

somatic

adj. Part of, or relating to the body of an organism. Of or relating to the wall of the body; somatopleuric; parietal. the somatic stalk of the yolk sac of an embryo Related terms psychosomatic chromosome somatology

sodden

adj. Soaked or drenched with liquid; soggy, saturated. (figuratively) Drunk; stupid as a result of drunkenness. v. (transitive) To drench, soak or saturate. (intransitive) To become soaked. The outfalls are choked, the dams are perforated by crabs or broken down by floods, and soon the ground becomes more and more sodden. I would have done too, but alcohol makes me so ill that I couldn't (I mention this to make it clear that I don't claim any moral superiority over my more sodden colleagues). But as I lay asleep the top had been pressed off the box, and the tinder got loose in my pocket; and though I picked the tinder out easily enough, and got it in the box again, yet the salt damps of the place had soddened it in the night, and spark by spark fell idle from the flint.

sere

adj. Without moisture. n. An intermediate stage in an ecosystem prior to advancing to the point of being a climax community. n. (obsolete) claw; talon The grass was sere and golden, the dirt beneath white and gravelly.

shipshape

adj. meticulously neat and tidy Organized, serviceable, trained and ready for action -- When are you going out fishing again? -- Oh, in about six weeks, when we're shipshape aloft.

slog

n. (chiefly UK and Canada) A long, tedious walk, or session of work. (cricket) An aggressive shot played with little skill. v. To walk slowly, encountering resistance. (by extension) To work slowly and deliberately (overcoming significant boredom). To strike something with a heavy blow, especially a ball with a bat.

skirmish

n. (military) A brief battle between small groups, usually part of a longer or larger battle or war. (figuratively) By extension, any minor dispute. A type of outdoor military style game using paintball or similar weapons. v. To engage in a minor battle or dispute

smut

n. (uncountable) Soot. (uncountable) Sexually vulgar material; something that is sexual in a dirty way; pornographic material. (uncountable) Obscene language; ribaldry; obscenity. (derogatory) A promiscuous woman. Any of a range of fungi, mostly Ustilaginomycetes, that cause plant disease in grasses, including cereal crops; the disease so caused. (mining) Bad, soft coal containing earthy matter, found in the immediate locality of faults. v. To stain (or be stained) with soot etc. (intransitive) To gather smut; to be converted into smut; to become smutted. To taint (grain, etc.) with the smut fungus. To clear of the smut fungus. He does not stand upon decency [...] but will talk smut, though a priest and his mother be in the room.

sloven

n. A man or boy habitually negligent of neatness and order; - the male equivalent of slattern, or slut; untidy, dirty. low, base, lewd (obsolete) immoral woman

slattern

n. A slut, a sexually promiscuous woman. (dated) A dirty and untidy woman.

slug

n. Any of many terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks, having no (or only rudimentary) shell (obsolete) A slow, lazy person; a sluggard. A bullet (projectile). A counterfeit coin, especially one used to steal from vending machines. A shot of a drink, usually alcoholic. (journalism) A title, name or header, a catchline, a short phrase or title to indicate the content of a newspaper or magazine story for editing use. (physics, rarely used) the Imperial (English) unit of mass that accelerates by 1 foot per second squared (1 ft/s²) when a force of one pound-force (lbf) is exerted on it. A discrete mass of a material that moves as a unit, usually through another material. A motile pseudoplasmodium formed by amoebae working together. (television editing) A black screen. (letterpress typography) A piece of type metal imprinted by a Linotype machine; also a black mark placed in the margin to indicate an error. (regional) A stranger picked up as a passenger to enable legal use of high occupancy vehicle lanes. (web design) The last part of a clean URL, the displayed resource name, similar to a filename. (obsolete) A hindrance; an obstruction. A ship that sails slowly. v. To drink quickly; to gulp. To down a shot. (transitive) To hit very hard, usually with the fist. To take part in casual carpooling; to form ad hoc, informal carpools for commuting, essentially a variation of ride-share commuting and hitchhiking. (intransitive, of a bullet) To become reduced in diameter, or changed in shape, by passing from a larger to a smaller part of the bore of the barrel. (obsolete, intransitive) To move slowly or sluggishly; to lie idle. (transitive) To load with a slug or slugs. To make sluggish. Another phenomenon investigated was a slug of water falling through the cloud. This method uses a slug of 100 mg/L chlorinated water as a slug that moves along the length of the pipeline. The slug is a percentage of the total length of the pipeline. You had to learn to grab the teat up next to the udder with your thumb and side of your first finger, grab a slug of milk and progressively squeeze it down the teat past your middle finger, ring finger and little finger His rendezvous for his fleet, and for all slugs to come to, should be between Calais and Dover. He insulted my mother, so I slugged him. The fighter slugged his opponent into unconsciousness. to slug a gun "We believe in car-pooling, but let's do it without restricting traffic. ..." Sam Snyder, 51, of Burke, who has been slugging to his job at the US Customs .... no sane person would attempt to commute that far every day. Sure they do. I've often slugged to Fredericksburg and back. The VRE carries hundreds of people per day, and the I-95 HOV lanes carry tens of thousands of people each day.

serenade

n. a love song that is sung directly to one's love interest, especially one performed below the window of a loved one in the evening (music) an instrumental composition in several movements v. to sing or play a serenade (for someone) The Southampton striker, who also struck a post late on, was being serenaded by the Wembley crowd before the end and should probably brace himself for some Lambert-mania over the coming days but, amid the eulogies, it should not overlook the deficiencies that were evident in another stodgy England performance.

sophism / sophistry

n. a method of teaching using the techniques of philosophy and rhetoric (slang) A flawed argument superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive. (slang) An intentional fallacy. sophistry (uncountable) Cunning, sometimes manifested as trickery. (uncountable) The art of using deceptive speech or writing. (countable) An argument that seems plausible, but is fallacious or misleading, especially one devised deliberately to be so. "Such conduct is at any rate not sophistical, if Aristotle be right in describing sophistry as the art of making money." 1844 - Søren Kierkegaard in Philosophical Fragments (Philosophiske Smuler eller En Smule Philosophi) Related terms sophist sophistic sophisticate sophisticated

seraphic / seraph

seraphic adj. of or relating to a seraph or the seraphim pure and sublime seraph (pl. seraphim) n. (biblical) A six-winged angel; the highest choir or order of angels in Christian angelology, ranked above cherubim, and below God. A detailed description can be found at the beginning of Isaiah chapter 6

serried / serry

serried adj. crowded together in rows The Murris in their serried invisible ranks crowd around her. They have, in the security of their sumptuous offices, behind stout mill gates and serried rows of bayonets and policemen's clubs, defied the State, city, and public. serry v. To crowd; to press together.

simonize

simonize v. to polish something with a wax-like substance Remember those days? The way Biff used to simonize that car? The dealer refused to believe there was eighty thousand miles on it.

sleight

sleight n. Cunning; craft; artful practice. An artful trick; sly artifice; a feat so dexterous that the manner of performance escapes observation. Dexterous practice; dexterity; skill.

sober / sobriety

sober adj. not drunk; not intoxicated not given to excessive drinking of alcohol moderate; realistic; serious; not playful; not passionate; cool; self-controlled dull; not bright or colorful subdued; solemn; grave v. (often with up) To make or become sober. (often with up) To overcome or lose a state of intoxication. a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of Thy holy name No sober man would put himself into danger for the applause of escaping without breaking his neck. Twilight grey / Had in her sober livery all things clad. See her sober over a sampler, or gay over a jointed baby. There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, / And drinking largely sobers us again. It took him hours to sober up. sobriety n. The quality or state of being sober. The quality or state of not being intoxicated. The quality or state of being grave or earnestly thoughtful. The state or quality of being unhurried; a state of calm. A state of moderation or seriousness. A state of modest in color or style. Soundness of judgement.

soggy / sog

soggy adj. Soaked with moisture or other liquid sog v. (transitive) To soak, steep or saturate (intransitive) To be soaked, steeped or saturated

soak

v. (intransitive) To be saturated with liquid by being immersed in it. (transitive) To immerse in liquid to the point of saturation or thorough permeation. (intransitive) To penetrate or permeate by saturation. (transitive) To allow (especially a liquid) to be absorbed; to take in, receive. (usually + up) (slang, dated) To drink intemperately or gluttonously. (metallurgy) To heat a metal before shaping it. (ceramics) To hold a kiln at a particular temperature for a given period of time. (figuratively) To absorb; to drain. n. An immersion in water etc. (slang, UK) A drunkard. (Australia) A low-lying depression that fills with water after rain. Their land shall be soaked with blood. I'm going to soak in the bath for a couple of hours. Soak the beans overnight before cooking. The water soaked into my shoes and gave me wet feet. The case was that of a murder. It had an element of mystery about it, however, which was puzzling the authorities. A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff. I soaked up all the knowledge I could at university. A sponge soaks up water; the skin soaks in moisture. We should soak the kiln at cone 9 for half an hour. "After the climb, I had a nice long soak in a bath."

slue

v. (transitive, nautical) To rotate something on an axis. (transitive) To turn something sharply. (intransitive) To rotate on an axis; to pivot. (intransitive) To slide off course; to skid. n. The act of sluing or the place to which something has slued. A slough; a run or wet place. They laughed, and slued themselves round.

snip

v. To cut with short sharp actions, as with scissors. To reduce the price of a product, to create a snip. To break off; to snatch away. (informal) To circumcise. n. The act of snipping; cutting a small amount off of something. Something acquired for a low price; a bargain. A small amount of something; a pinch. (definite, the snip, euphemistic) A vasectomy. A small or weak person, especially a young one. (obsolete) A share or portion; a snack. (obsolete, slang) A tailor. I don't want you to take much hair off; just snip my mullet off. The captain seldom ordered anything out of the ship's stores [...] but I snipped some of it for my own share. That wholesale lot on eBay was a snip at $10 'Might as well come out now, you little snip, from wherever you be hiding!'

sheaf

/ʃiːf/ n. A quantity of the stalks and ears of wheat, rye, or other grain, bound together; a bundle of grain or straw. Any collection of things bound together; a bundle. A bundle of arrows sufficient to fill a quiver, or the allowance of each archer. A quantity of arrows, usually twenty-four. (mechanical) A sheave. (mathematics) An abstract construct in topology that associates data to the open sets of a topological space, together with well-defined restrictions from larger to smaller open sets, subject to the condition that compatible data on overlapping open sets corresponds, via the restrictions, to a unique datum on the union of the open sets. v. (transitive) To gather and bind into a sheaf; to make into sheaves; as, to sheaf wheat. (intransitive) To collect and bind cut grain, or the like; to make sheaves. a sheaf of paper

shrewd

/ʃɹuːd/ adj. showing clever resourcefulness in practical matters artful, tricky or cunning streetwise knowledgeable (archaic) Scolding, satirical, sharp. Willie is very aware of this fact and lets Johnny Attell know that there is a fly in the ointment, and Johnny, who is a very shrewd article, has his chauffeur drive him to Bradford Street so he can change the kid's mind. The most persistent tormentor was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who scored a hat-trick in last month's corresponding fixture in Iceland. His ability to run at defences is instantly striking, but it is his clever use of possession that has persuaded some shrewd judges that he is an even better prospect than Theo Walcott.

sheer

adj. (textiles) Very thin or transparent. (obsolete) Pure; unmixed. Being only what it seems to be; mere. Very steep; almost vertical or perpendicular. Used to emphasize the amount or degree of something. adv. (archaic) clean; quite; at once. n. (nautical) The curve of the main deck or gunwale from bow to stern. (nautical) An abrupt swerve from the course of a ship. v. (chiefly nautical) To swerve from a course. (obsolete) To shear. Her light, sheer dress caught everyone's attention. "She sheathed her legs in the sheerest of the nylons that her father had brought back from the Continent, and slipped her feet into the toeless, high-heeled shoes of black suède." I think it is sheer genius to invent such a thing. This poem is sheer nonsense. Cycling's complex etiquette contains an unwritten rule that riders in contention for a race win should not be penalised for sheer misfortune. It was a sheer drop of 180 feet. Through technological wizardry and sheer audacity, Google has shown how we can transform the intellectual riches of our libraries [...] . Perhaps as startling as the sheer toll was the devastation to some of the state's well-known locales. Boardwalks along the beach in Seaside Heights, Belmar and other towns on the Jersey Shore were blown away. Amusement parks, arcades and restaurants all but vanished. Bridges to barrier islands buckled, preventing residents from even inspecting the damage to their property. I sheered her well inshore—the water being deepest near the bank, as the sounding-pole informed me.

sly

adj. Artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily. Dexterous in performing an action, so as to escape notice; nimble; skillful; cautious; shrewd; knowing; — in a good sense. Done with, and marked by, artful and dexterous secrecy; subtle; as, a sly trick. Light or delicate; slight; thin. Etymology From Middle English sly, sley, from Old Norse slǣgr, slœgr ("sly, cunning", literally "capable of hitting or striking"), from Proto-Germanic *slōgiz ("lively, agile, cunning, sly, striking"), from Proto-Indo-European *slak- ("to hit, throw"). Cognate with Icelandic slægur ("crafty, sly"), Norwegian Nynorsk sløg ("sly"), Low German slu ("sly, cunning"), German schlau ("clever, crafty"). Related to sleight, slay.

snide

adj. Disparaging or derisive in an insinuative way. Tricky; deceptive; false; spurious; contemptible. n. An underhanded, tricky person given to sharp practise; a sharper; a beat. Don't make snide remarks to me. He was a snide lawyer. I received a shipment of snide goods.

somnolent

adj. Drowsy or sleepy. (dated) Causing literal or figurative sleepiness; soporific. Etymology First attested in 1615. From French somnolent, from Old French sompolent, subsequently from Latin somnolentus, Latin somnus ("sleep"), Proto-Indo-European *swépnos, *súpnos ("dream"), which both are derived from Proto-Indo-European *swep-.

sear

adj. Dry; withered, especially of vegetation. v. To char, scorch, or burn the surface of something with a hot instrument. To wither; to dry up. (figuratively) To mark permanently, as if by burning. n. A scar produced by searing Part of a gun that retards the hammer until the trigger is pulled. The events of that day were seared into her memory.

seasoned

adj. Experienced, especially in terms of a profession or a hobby With only two fit centre-backs available, Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp employed young midfielder Jake Livermore at the back alongside Sebastien Bassong but Spurs struggled against a seasoned Champions League outfit, who beat Barcelona at the Nou Camp in 2009-10 and continually worked their way between the home defence to create some golden opportunities.

slick

adj. Slippery due to a covering of liquid; often used to describe appearances. Appearing expensive or sophisticated. Superficially convincing but actually untrustworthy. Clever, making an apparently hard task easy; often used sarcastically. (US, West Coast slang) Extraordinarily great or special. sleek; smooth v. A covering of liquid, particularly oil. Someone who is clever and untrustworthy. A tool used to make something smooth or even. (sports, automotive) A tire with a smooth surface instead of a tread pattern, often used in auto racing. (US, military slang) A helicopter. (printing) A camera-ready image to be used by a printer. The "slick" is photographed to produce a negative image which is then used to burn a positive offset plate or other printing device. A wide paring chisel used in joinery. v. To make slick This rain is making the roads slick. The top coating of lacquer gives this finish a slick look. They read all kinds of slick magazines. That new sales rep is slick. Be sure to read the fine print before you buy anything. Our new process for extracting needles from haystacks is extremely slick. That was a slick move, locking your keys in the car. That is one slick bicycle: it has all sorts of features! The oil slick has now spread to cover the entire bay, critically endangering the sea life. The project was delayed because the slick had not been delivered to the printer. So I slicked the broccoli with oil and seasonings and set it to roast. The surface had been slicked.

slight

adj. Small, weak or gentle; not decidedly marked; not forcible; inconsiderable; unimportant; insignificant; not severe. Not stout or heavy; slender. (obsolete) Foolish; silly; weak in intellect. v. To treat as slight or not worthy of attention, to make light of. To treat with disdain or neglect. To act negligently or carelessly. (military, of a fortification) To render no longer defensible by full or partial demolition. To make even or level. To throw heedlessly. n. The act of slighting; a deliberate act of neglect or discourtesy. Sleight. the wretch who slights the bounty of the skies The rogue slighted me into the river. Never use a slighting expression to her, even in jest; for slights in jest, after frequent bandyings, are apt to end in angry earnest.

smudge

n. A blemish; a smear. Dense smoke, such as that used for fumigation. (US) A heap of damp combustibles partially ignited and burning slowly, placed on the windward side of a house, tent, etc. to keep off mosquitoes or other insects. v. To obscure by blurring; to smear. To soil or smear with dirt. To use dense smoke to protect from insects. To stifle or smother with smoke. (North American Indigenous) To burn herbs as a cleansing ritual. There was a smudge on the paper. Synonyms (to obscure by blurring): blur, smear (to soil or smear with dirt): smutch, soil (to use smoke against insects): fumigate

slot

n. A broad, flat, wooden bar, a slat, especially as used to secure a door, window, etc. A metal bolt or wooden bar, especially as a crosspiece. (electrical) A channel opening in the stator or rotor of a rotating machine for ventilation and insertion of windings. (slang, surfing) The barrel or tube of a wave. v. (obsolete) To bolt or lock a door or window. (obsolete, transitive, UK, dialect) To shut with violence; to slam. n. A narrow depression, perforation, or aperture; especially, one for the reception of a piece fitting or sliding in it. A gap in a schedule or sequence. (aviation) The allocated time for an aircraft's departure or arrival at an airport's runway. (aviation) In a flying display, the fourth position; after the leader and two wingmen. (computing) A space in memory or on disk etc. in which a particular type of object can be stored. (informal) A slot machine designed for gambling. (slang) The vagina. v. To put something (such as a coin) into a slot (narrow aperture) To assign something or someone into a slot (gap in a schedule or sequence) To put something where it belongs. n. The track of an animal, especially a deer. And Stamford Bridge erupted with joy as Florent Malouda slotted in a cross from Drogba, who had stayed just onside. 1819: "One is from Hexamshire; he is wont to trace the Tynedale and Teviotdale thieves, as a bloodhound follows the slot of a hurt deer." — Walter Scott, Ivanhoe

simile

n. A figure of speech in which one thing is compared to another, in the case of English generally using like or as. My father is a quiet man -- With sober, steady ways; -- For simile, a folded fan; -- His nights are like his days. A simile is like a metaphor.

snarl

n. A knot or complication of hair, thread, or the like, difficult to disentangle; entanglement; hence, intricate complication; embarrassing difficulty. The act of snarling; a growl; a surly or peevish expression; an angry contention. A growl, as of an angry or surly dog, or similar; grumbling sounds v. To form raised work upon the outer surface of (thin metal ware) by the repercussion of a snarling iron upon the inner surface. To entangle; to complicate; to involve in knots. To embarrass; to ensnare. To growl, as an angry or surly dog; to gnarl; to utter grumbling sounds. To speak crossly; to talk in rude, surly terms. And from her back her garments she did tear, / And from her head oft rent her snarled hair [...] [the] question that they would have snarled him with It is malicious and unmanly to snarl at the little lapses of a pen, from which Virgil himself stands not exempted.

sideline

n. A line at the side of something, as in "the yellow sideline of the road". (sports) A line defining the side boundary of a playing field. (usually in the plural) The area outside the playing field beyond each sideline. The outside or perimeter of any activity. Something that is additional or extra or that exists around the edges or margins of a main item. v. (transitive) To place on the sidelines; to bench or to keep someone out of play. (transitive) To remove or keep out of circulation. The coach stood on the sidelines and bellowed commands at the team. She installed the whole fixture while he simply watched from the sidelines. She started the business as a sideline to her regular work and it ended up becoming the greater source of income. Soup need not be just a sideline to a meal; if you like, it can be the main course. The coach sidelined the player until he regained his strength. The illness sidelined him for weeks.

sliver

n. A long piece cut or rent off; a sharp, slender fragment; a splinter. A strand, or slender roll, of cotton or other fiber in a loose, untwisted state, produced by a carding machine and ready for the roving or slubbing which precedes spinning. Bait made of pieces of small fish. Compare kibblings. (US, New York) A narrow high-rise apartment building. v. (transitive) To cut or divide into long, thin pieces, or into very small pieces; to cut or rend lengthwise; to slit. A sliver of bone has punctured a lung, and a small surgical operation was needed to remove it (would he like to keep the bone as a memento?--it is in a phial by his bedside). They'll sliver thee like a turnip.

sideshow

n. A minor attraction at a larger event such as a circus, fair, music festival or similar. An incidental spectacle that diverts attention from a larger concern. (US) An incident in which drivers block traffic to perform donuts for an extended period of time. Don′t miss the rusty relics dredged up from the original pier, and the spooky old sideshow machines. Entertainment features and sideshows enhanced attendance. Other recreation services, including amusement parks or arcades, sideshows, circuses and agricultural shows, accounted for another 666 businesses. These businesses employed 10,318 persons and a further 3,518 volunteers. Far from learning from the failures of 'economic rationalism,' the Liberals want us to swallow more of the snake oil medicine while diverting our attention to the consumption tax sideshow.

slit

n. A narrow cut or opening; a slot. (vulgar, slang) The opening of the vagina. (vulgar, slang, derogatory) A woman, usually a sexually loose woman; a prostitute. v. To cut a narrow opening. To split in two parts. (transitive) To cut; to sever; to divide. The face which emerged was not reassuring. It was blunt and grey, the nose springing thick and flat from high on the frontal bone of the forehead, whilst his eyes were narrow slits of dark in a tight bandage of tissue. [...]. He slit the bag open and the rice began pouring out. And slits the thin-spun life.

sibyl

n. A pagan female oracle or prophetess, especially the Cumaean sibyl. I used to read these tales in Homer when I was a lad. Then the Sibyl! I saw her at Cumae with my own eyes hanging in a jar; and when the boys cried to her, 'Sibyl, what would you?' she'd answer, 'I would die,'-- both of 'em speaking Greek."

slobber

n. Liquid material, generally saliva, that dribbles or drools outward and downward from the mouth. (dated) A jellyfish. v. To allow saliva or liquid to run from one's mouth; to drool. There was dried slobber on his coat lapel. All babies slobber.

shriek

n. A sharp, shrill outcry or scream; a shrill wild cry such as is caused by sudden or extreme terror, pain, or the like. (UK) (slang) An exclamation mark. v. To utter a loud, sharp, shrill sound or cry, as do some birds and beasts; to scream, as in a sudden fright, in horror or anguish. To utter sharply and shrilly; to utter in or with a shriek or shrieks. Sabor, the lioness, was a wise hunter. To one less wise the wild alarm of her fierce cry as she sprang would have seemed a foolish thing, for could she not more surely have fallen upon her victims had she but quietly leaped without that loud shriek? At this she shrieked aloud; the mournful train / Echoed her grief. She shrieked his name to the dark woods. The ghostly owl, shrieking his baleful note.

shudder

n. A shivering tremor. A moment of almost pleasurable fear; a frisson. v. (intransitive) To shake nervously, as if from fear. (intransitive) To vibrate jerkily.

slant

n. A slope or incline. A bias, tendency, or leaning; a perspective or angle. (pejorative, ethnic slur) A person of East Asian descent, supposed to have slanting eyes. (obsolete) An oblique reflection or gibe; a sarcastic remark. v. To lean, tilt or incline. To bias or skew. The house was built on a bit of a slant and was never quite level. It was a well written article, but it had a bit of a leftist slant. If you slant the track a little more, the marble will roll down it faster. On the side of yonder slanting hill. The group tends to slant its policies in favor of the big businesses it serves.

sip

n. A small mouthful of drink v. (transitive) To drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time. (intransitive) To drink a small quantity. To taste the liquor of; to drink out of. (Scotland, US, dated) Alternative form of seep Think of banking today and the image is of grey-suited men in towering skyscrapers. Its future, however, is being shaped in converted warehouses and funky offices in San Francisco, New York and London, where bright young things in jeans and T-shirts huddle around laptops, sipping lattes or munching on free food. [She] raised it to her mouth with sober grace; / Then, sipping, offered to the next in place. They skim the floods, and sip the purple flowers.

sidestep

n. A step to the side. A motion, physical or metaphorical, to avoid or dodge something. v. (intransitive) To step to the side. (transitive) To avoid or dodge. I [...] knocked and waited. [...] He sidestepped, and I went in. Kilmarnock ought to have taken the lead on the stroke of half-time when Hefferman set up Kroca and, although the defender neatly sidestepped his marker, he fired straight into the chest of Enckelman. They sidestepped the issue.

snicker

n. A stifled or broken laugh (intransitive) To emit a snicker: a stifled or broken laugh. (of a horse) To whinny.

skyrocket

n. A type of firework that uses a solid rocket motor to rise quickly into the sky where it emits a variety of effects such as stars, bangs, crackles, etc. (by extension) A rebuke, a scolding. (rhyming slang) Pocket. v. To increase suddenly and extremely; to shoot up; to surge or spike. Athletes' use of herbal supplements has skyrocketed in the past two decades. At the top of the list of popular herbs are echinacea and ginseng, whereas garlic, St. John's wort, soybean, ephedra and others are also surging in popularity or have been historically prevalent. The shortage caused prices to skyrocket.

slumber

n. A very light state of sleep, almost awake. v. (intransitive) To be in a very light state of sleep, almost awake. (intransitive) To be inactive or negligent. (transitive, obsolete) To lay to sleep. (transitive, obsolete) To stun; to stupefy. He at last fell into a slumber, and thence into a fast sleep, which detained him in that place until it was almost night. — Bunyan. Fast asleep? It is no matter; / Enjoy the honey-heavy dew of slumber. — Shakespeare. Rest to my soul, and slumber to my eyes. — Dryden. He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

sock

n. A violent blow, punch (firearms, informal) a gun sock v. (transitive) To hit or strike violently; to strike forcefully (intransitive) To deliver a blow They may let you off the first time, but the second time they'll sock it to you. — James Jones n. A ploughshare. The cutting edge of a plow, typically a metal blade.

skullduggery

n. Activities intended to deceive; a con or hoax.

slur

n. An insult or slight. (music) A set of notes that are played legato, without separate articulation. (music) The symbol indicating a legato passage, written as an arc over the slurred notes (not to be confused with a tie). (obsolete) A trick or deception. In knitting machines, a device for depressing the sinkers successively by passing over them. v. To insult or slight. To run together; to articulate poorly. (music) To play legato or without separate articulation; to connect (notes) smoothly. To soil; to sully; to contaminate; to disgrace. To cover over; to disguise; to conceal; to pass over lightly or with little notice. To cheat, as by sliding a die; to trick. (printing, dated) To blur or double, as an impression from type; to mackle. a racial slur He slurs his speech when he is drunk. Manganism has been known about since the 19th century, when miners exposed to ores containing manganese, a silvery metal, began to totter, slur their speech and behave like someone inebriated. With periods, points, and tropes, he slurs his crimes.

smirk

n. An uneven, often crooked smile that is insolent, self-satisfied or scornful. A forced or affected smile; a simper. v. To smile in a way that is affected, smug, insolent or contemptuous. adj. (obsolete) smart; spruce; affected; simpering The bride, all smirk and blush, had just entered.

skirt

n. Border; edge; margin; extreme part of anything. The diaphragm, or midriff, in animals. v. To be on or form the border of. To move around or along the border of; to avoid the center of. To cover with a skirt; to surround. Here in the skirts of the forest. The plain was skirted by rows of trees. A "moving platform" scheme [...] is more technologically ambitious than maglev trains even though it relies on conventional rails. Local trains would use side-by-side rails to roll alongside intercity trains and allow passengers to switch trains by stepping through docking bays. [...] This would also let high-speed trains skirt cities as moving platforms ferry passengers to and from the city centre. An enormous man and woman (it was early-closing day) were stretched motionless, with their heads on pocket-handkerchiefs, side by side, within a few feet of the sea, while two or three gulls gracefully skirted the incoming waves, and settled near their boots. skirted his loins and thighs with downy gold

sermon

n. Religious discourse; a written or spoken address on a religious or moral matter. A lengthy speech of reproval. v. (poetic, obsolete) To discourse to or of, as in a sermon. (poetic, obsolete) To tutor; to lecture. One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on "The Inner Life." He at once secured attention by his informal method, and when presently the coughing of Jarvis [...] interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience with a remark about cough lozenges being cheap and easily procurable.

slice

n. That which is thin and broad. A thin, broad piece cut off. amount A piece of pizza. (UK) A snack consisting of pastry with savoury filling. A broad, thin piece of plaster. A knife with a thin, broad blade for taking up or serving fish; also, a spatula for spreading anything, as paint or ink. A salver, platter, or tray. A plate of iron with a handle, forming a kind of chisel, or a spadelike implement, variously proportioned, and used for various purposes, as for stripping the planking from a vessel's side, for cutting blubber from a whale, or for stirring a fire of coals; a slice bar; a peel; a fire shovel. One of the wedges by which the cradle and the ship are lifted clear of the building blocks to prepare for launching. (printing) A removable sliding bottom to a galley. (golf) A shot that (for the right-handed player) curves unintentionally to the right. See fade, hook, draw (Australia, New Zealand) A class of heavy cakes or desserts made in a tray and cut out into squarish slices. (medicine) A section of image taken of an internal organ using MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), CT (computed tomography), or various forms of x-ray. (falconry) A hawk's or falcon's dropping which squirts at an angle other than vertical. (See mute.) v. To cut into slices. To cut with an edge utilizing a drawing motion. (golf) To hit a shot that slices (travels from left to right for a right-handed player). (transitive) To clear (e.g. a fire, or the grate bars of a furnace) by means of a slice bar. a slice of bacon; a slice of cheese; a slice of bread Blackpool, chasing a seventh win in 17 league matches, simply could not contain Sunderland's rampant attack and had to resort to a combination of last-ditch defending, fine goalkeeping and a large slice of fortune. For breakfast, lunch, or dinner, the best Guido meal is a slice and a Coke. I bought a ham and cheese slice at the service station. Slice the cheese thinly. The knife left sliced his arm. Chris Brunt sliced the spot-kick well wide but his error was soon forgotten as Olsson headed home from a corner.

soil

n. That which soils or pollutes; a stain. A marshy or miry place to which a hunted boar resorts for refuge; hence, a wet place, stream, or tract of water, sought for by other game, as deer. Dung; compost; manure. v. (intransitive) To become dirty or soiled. (transitive) To make dirty. (transitive, figuratively) To stain or mar, as with infamy or disgrace; to tarnish; to sully. (reflexive) To dirty one's clothing by accidentally defecating while clothed. To make invalid, to ruin. To enrich with soil or muck; to manure. A lady's honour [...] will not bear a soil. As deer, being stuck, fly through many soils, / Yet still the shaft sticks fast. Improve land by dung and other sort of soils. Light colours soil sooner than dark ones. Our wonted ornaments now soiled and stained. Men [...] soil their ground, not that they love the dirt, but that they expect a crop.

self-assertion

n. The aggressive advancement of one's own opinions or wishes. In place of ruthless self-assertion it demands self-restraint; in place of thrusting aside, or treading down, all competitors, it requires that the individual shall not merely respect, but shall help his fellows; its influence is directed, not so much to the survival of the fittest, as to the fitting of as many as possible to survive.

shuttle

n. The part of a loom that carries the woof back and forth between the warp threads. The sliding thread holder in a sewing machine, which carries the lower thread through a loop of the upper thread, to make a lock stitch. A transport service (such as a bus or train) that goes back and forth between two places. Any other item that moves repeatedly back and forth between two positions, possibly transporting something else with it between those points (such as, in chemistry, a molecular shuttle). A shutter, as for a channel for molten metal. v. (intransitive) To go back and forth between two places. (transitive) To transport by shuttle or by means of a shuttle service. Like shuttles through the loom, so swiftly glide / My feathered hours.

sequacious / sequacity

sequacious adj. Tending in a continuous intellectual direction; not rambling or discursive. Following along; attendant. ductile; malleable; pliant; manageable The scheme of pantheistic omniscience so prevalent among the sequacious thinkers of the day. Milton was not an extensive or discursive thinker, as Shakespeare was; for the motions of his mind were slow, solemn, and sequacious, like those of the planets. In the greater bodies the forge was easy, the matter being ductile and sequacious. sequacity n. Quality or state of being sequacious.

senile

senile adj. Of, or relating to old age. (often offensive) Exhibiting the deterioration in mind and body often accompanying old age; doddering. Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems— [...]. Such a slow-release device containing angiogenic factors could be placed on the pia mater covering the cerebral cortex and tested in persons with senile dementia in long term studies. Etymology From Old French senile, from Latin senīlis ("of or pertaining to old age"), from Latin senex ("old"), from Gaulish and Proto-Indo-European *sénos ("old"). e.g. "senior"

sequestrate / sequester

sequestrate v. Law. to sequester (property). to confiscate. to separate; seclude. sequester v. to remove or withdraw into solitude or retirement; seclude. to remove or separate; banish; exile. to keep apart from others; segregate or isolate: Law. to remove (property) temporarily from the possession of the owner; seize and hold, as the property and income of a debtor, until legal claims are satisfied. International Law. to requisition, hold, and control (enemy property). to trap (a chemical in the atmosphere or environment) and isolate it in a natural or artificial storage area: There are processes to sequester carbon from a power plant's exhaust gases. n. an act or instance of sequestering; separation; isolation. sequestration (def 7): domestic programs starved for cash by the federal sequester. The jury was sequestered until a verdict was reached.

sentinel / sentry

setinel n. A sentry or guard. (computer science) a unique string of characters recognised by a computer program for processing in a special way; a keyword. Watch; guard. A sentinel crab. v. (transitive) To watch over as a guard. (transitive) To post as guard. (transitive) To post a guard for. the sentinels who paced the ramparts that princes do keep due sentinel He sentineled the north wall. He sentineled him on the north wall. He sentineled the north wall with just one man. sentry n. A guard, particularly on duty at the entrance to a military base. (uncountable) Sentry duty; time spent being a sentry.

shabby / scruffy / shoddy

shabby adj. Torn or worn; poor; mean; ragged. Clothed with ragged, much worn, or soiled garments. Mean; paltry; despicable. Miss Phyllis Morgan, as the hapless heroine dressed in the shabbiest of clothes, appears in the midst of a gay and giddy throng; she apostrophises all and sundry there, including the villain, and has a magnificent scene which always brings down the house, and nightly adds to her histrionic laurels. They lived in a tiny apartment, with some old, shabby furniture. The fellow arrived looking rather shabby after journeying so far. scruffy adj. untidy in appearance n. (informal) An artificial intelligence researcher who believes that intelligence is too complicated (or computationally intractable) to be solved with the sorts of homogeneous system favoured by the "neats". shoddy adj. Being of poor quality or construction n. A low-grade cloth made from by-products of wool processing, or from recycled wool. Do not settle for shoddy knives if you are serious about cooking. To fill contracts for hundreds of thousands of uniforms, textile manufacturers compressed the fibers of recycled woolen goods into a material called "shoddy".

shattered / shatter

shattered adj. physically broken into pieces emotionally defeated or dispirited It was by his order the shattered leading company flung itself into the houses when the Sin Verguenza were met by an enfilading volley as they reeled into the calle. Yes, he had gotten his revenge for my rejection. I was shattered but remained silent. She refused to see him for two days. He was shattered. He sent his apologies. Well, she died after seven years of marriage, and Mill thought that he was shattered, and shattered no doubt he was, in the sense of this absolutely irreparable emotional loss. shatter v. (transitive) to violently break something into pieces. (transitive) to destroy or disable something. (intransitive) to smash, or break into tiny pieces. (transitive) to dispirit or emotionally defeat (obsolete) To scatter about. The miners used dynamite to shatter rocks. a high-pitched voice that could shatter glass The old oak tree has been shattered by lightning. to be shattered in intellect; to have shattered hopes, or a shattered constitution Your death will shatter him. Which is what I want. Actually, I would prefer to kill him. A CAT scan revealed she had an inoperable brain tumor. The news shattered Michele's mother. The marriage, of course, was long broken but Munoz knew that asking her for a divorce would shatter her.

shilly-shally / dilly-dally

shilly-shally v. To procrastinate. To vacillate. adj. indecisive; wavering The shilly-shallying performance on domestic issues that has marked Bush's first two years in office is not the result of ineptitude. Irwine would think him a shilly-shally fellow ever after. dilly-dally v. to dawdle; to waste time; to procrastinate

simmer / simmer down

simmer n. The state or process of simmering. v. (intransitive) To cook or undergo heating slowly at or below the boiling point. (transitive) To cause to cook or to cause to undergo heating slowly at or below the boiling point. The kettle was kept on the simmer. The soup simmered on the stove. Simmer the soup for five minutes, then serve. Synonyms: coddle Derived terms: simmer down v. (intransitive, idiomatic) To decrease in intensity of anger, agitation, or excitement. Although the street demonstrations have simmered down, protests have continued in other forms. The agitation, thus deprived of its chief hope, might very well have been expected to simmer down, to die away slowly. "Silence! Now ye had better go slow, my good fellow. This is two or three times you've tried to get off some of your d----d insolence. Lip won't do here. You've got to simmer down."

skit / skittish

skit n. A short comic performance. A jeer or sally; a brief satire. (obsolete) A wanton girl; a wench. v. (Ireland, Liverpudlian) to make fun of. (Used in Merseyside) That is a mere skit compared with this strange performance. skittish adj. Easily scared or startled; timid. wanton; changeable; fickle The cat likes people he knows, but he is skittish around strangers. Skittish Fortune's hall. — Shakespeare.

slippage / slippery / slip

slippage n. The act of slipping, especially from a secure location. The amount something has slipped. A lessening of performance or achievement. A decrease in motion, or in the power of a mechanical system due to slipping. The difference between estimated and actual transaction costs. slippery adj. Of a surface, having low friction, often due to being covered in a non-viscous liquid, and therefore hard to grip, hard to stand on without falling, etc. (figuratively, by extension) Evasive; difficult to pin down. (obsolete) Liable to slip; not standing firm. unstable; changeable; inconstant (obsolete) wanton; unchaste; loose in morals slip n. (obsolete) Mud, slime. (ceramics) A thin, slippery mix of clay and water. n. A twig or shoot; a cutting. (obsolete) A descendant, a scion. A young person (now usually with of introducing descriptive qualifier). A long, thin piece of something. A small piece of paper, especially one longer than it is wide. v. (intransitive) To lose one's traction on a slippery surface; to slide due to a lack of friction. (intransitive) To err. (intransitive) To move or fly (out of place); to shoot; often with out, off, etc. (transitive) To pass (a note, money, etc.) often covertly. (transitive) To cause to move smoothly and quickly; to slide; to convey gently or secretly. (intransitive) To move quickly and often secretively; to depart, withdraw, enter, appear, intrude, or escape as if by sliding. (intransitive, figuratively) To move down; to slide. (transitive, falconry) To release (a dog, a bird of prey, etc.) to go after a quarry. (transitive, cooking) To remove the skin of a soft fruit, such as a tomato or peach, by blanching briefly in boiling water, then transferring to cold water so that the skin peels, or slips, off easily. (obsolete) To omit; to lose by negligence. To cut slips from; to cut; to take off; to make a slip or slips of. To cause to slip or slide off, or out of place. To bring forth (young) prematurely; to slink. n. An act or instance of slipping. A women's undergarment worn under a skirt or dress; a shift. A mistake or error. (nautical) A berth; a space for a ship to moor. (nautical) A difference between the theoretical distance traveled per revolution of the propeller and the actual advance of the vessel. (medicine) A one-time return to previous maladaptive behaviour after cure. (cricket) Any of several fielding positions to the off side of the wicket keeper, designed to catch the ball after being deflected from the bat; a fielder in that position (See first slip, second slip, third slip, fourth slip and fifth slip.) A number between 0 and 1 that is the difference between the angular speed of a rotating magnetic field and the angular speed of its rotor, divided by the angular speed of the magnetic field. A leash or string by which a dog is held; so called from its being made in such a manner as to slip, or become loose, by relaxation of the hand. An escape; a secret or unexpected desertion. (printing, dated) A portion of the columns of a newspaper etc. struck off by itself; a proof from a column of type when set up and in the galley. (dated) A child's pinafore. An outside covering or case. (obsolete) A counterfeit piece of money, made from brass covered with silver. Matter found in troughs of grindstones after the grinding of edge tools. A particular quantity of yarn. (UK, dated) A narrow passage between buildings. (US) A long seat or narrow pew in churches, often without a door. (mining) A dislocation of a lead, destroying continuity. (engineering) The motion of the centre of resistance of the float of a paddle wheel, or the blade of an oar, through the water horizontally, or the difference between a vessel's actual speed and the speed it would have if the propelling instrument acted upon a solid; also, the velocity, relatively to still water, of the backward current of water produced by the propeller. A fish, the sole. Fernando Amorebieta seemed to have checked him, but a stepover created a fraction of room that became significant as the defender slipped, giving Falcao just enough space to curl a superb finish into the top corner. There is one that slippeth in his speech, but not from his heart. A bone may slip out of place. She thanked the porter and slipped a ten-dollar bill into his hand. He tried to slip a powder into her drink. Some errors slipped into the appendix. Thrice the flitting shadow slipped away. Profits have slipped over the past six months. Lucento slipped me like his greyhound. The branches also may be slipped and planted. A horse slips his bridle; a dog slips his collar. He gave the warden the slip and escaped from the prison. a pillow slip the slip or sheath of a sword We stalked over the extensive plains with Killbuck and Lena in the slips, in search of deer. This good man's slip mended his pace to martyrdom. I had a slip on the ice and bruised my hip.

sloppy / slop

sloppy adj. Very wet; covered in or composed of slop. Messy; not neat, elegant, or careful. Imprecise or loose. The dog tracked sloppy mud through the kitchen! The carpenter did a sloppy job of building the staircase. A sloppy measurement; a sloppy fit! Derived terms: sloppiness slop n. (now historical) A loose outer garment; a jacket or overall. (in the plural, obsolete) Loose trousers. n. (uncountable) A liquid or semi-solid; goo, paste, mud, domestic liquid waste. scraps used as food for pigs (dated) Human urine or excrement. Water or other liquid carelessly spilled or thrown about, as upon a table or a floor; a puddle; a soiled spot. (chiefly plural) Inferior, weak drink or liquid food. v. (transitive) to spill or dump liquid, especially over the rim of a container when it moves. (transitive) To spill liquid upon; to soil with a spilled liquid. (transitive) In the game of pool or snooker to pocket a ball by accident; in billiards, to make an ill-considered shot. (transitive) to feed pigs I slopped water all over my shirt. a little Durham bull butted the pail and slopped him with the milk

smarmy / smarm

smarmy adj. Falsely earnest, smug, or ingratiating. a smarmy salesman with a big smile smarm n. smarmy language or behavior v. (intransitive) To fawn, to be unctuous. (transitive) To address in a fawning and unctuous manner. Phil Hartman, the voice and soul of McClure, was the king of making everything sounds cheerful and positive, no matter how grim. McClure was the personification of smarm. He alone could say, "Your children are missing. I know because I murdered them with my own hands!" and make it sound like good news. He rose ... on his wife's fortune and judicious smarming of powerful people.

smirch / besmirch

smirch n. Dirt (of a reputation) Stain v. To dirty; to make dirty. n. Meld of smear and chirp A chirp of radiation power from an astronomical body that has a smeared appearance om its plot in the time-frequency plane (usually associated with massive bodies orbiting supermassive black holes) Too often, in the years between 800 and 1050, the everyday sun declined through the smirch of flame and smoke of a monastery or town robbed and burnt. there were some business transactions which savored of dangerous speculation, if not dishonesty; and around it all lay the smirch of the Freedmen's Bank. By observing a smirch, LISA offers a unique opportunity to directly map the spacetime geometry around the central object and test whether or not this structure is in accordance with the expectations of general realtivity. besmirch v. (transitive) To make dirty; to soil. (transitive) To tarnish, especially someone's reputation; to debase. The newspaper was on a campaign to besmirch the actor.

snappish / snappy / snap

snappish adj. Likely to snap or bite. Exhibiting irritation or impatience; curt; irascible. "She came to us snappish and suspicious, but when she found what sort of place ours was, it all went off by degrees She heard her own voice, snappish and rude, and pressed a hand to her head. Even though the woman didn't work closely with Barsade, so palpable was her complaining and snappish temperament that it had infected everyone who worked around her. There was something underneath her snappish belligerence that made him feel protective and tolerant. snappy adj. (informal) Rapid and without delay. (informal) Irritable. (informal) Tidy; well-dressed; sharp. Chilly, brisk, sharp. a snappy response Make it snappy! (=hurry up) You're snappy this morning; did you not sleep well? Here he is, looking snappy in his brand-new suit. The day was cool and snappy for August, and the Rise all green with a lavish nature. Now we plunged into a deep shade with the boughs lacing each other overhead, and crossed dainty, rustic bridges over the cold trout-streams, the boards giving back the clatter of our horses' feet: [...] . snap n. A quick breaking or cracking sound or the action of producing such a sound. A sudden break. An attempt to seize, bite, attack, or grab. The act of making a snapping sound by pressing the thumb and a opposing finger of the same hand together and suddenly releasing the grip so that the finger hits against the palm. A fastening device that makes a snapping sound when used. A photograph (an abbreviation of snapshot) The sudden release of something held under pressure or tension. A thin circular cookie or similar good: A brief, sudden period of a certain weather; used primarily in the phrase cold snap. A very short period of time (figuratively, the time taken to snap one's fingers), or a task that can be accomplished in such a period. A snap bean such as Phaseolus vulgaris. (American football) The passing of a football from the center to a back that begins play, a hike. (somewhat colloquial) A rivet: a scrapbooking embellishment. (UK, regional) A small meal, a snack; lunch. (uncountable) A card game, primarily for children, in which players cry "snap" to claim pairs of matching cards. (obsolete) A greedy fellow. That which is, or may be, snapped up; something bitten off, seized, or obtained by a single quick movement; hence, a bite, morsel, or fragment; a scrap. briskness; vigour; energy; decision (slang, archaic) Any circumstance out of which money may be made or an advantage gained. used primarily in the phrase soft snap. A snapper, or snap beetle. v. (intransitive, transitive) To fracture or break apart suddenly. (intransitive) To give forth or produce a sharp cracking noise; to crack. (intransitive) To attempt to seize with the teeth or bite. (intransitive) To attempt to seize with eagerness. (intransitive) To speak abruptly or sharply. (intransitive) To give way abruptly and loudly. (intransitive) To suffer a mental breakdown, usually while under tension. (intransitive) To flash or appear to flash as with light. (intransitive) To fit or fasten together with a snapping sound. (intransitive, computing, graphical user interface) To jump to a fixed position relative to another element. (transitive) To snatch with or as if with the teeth (transitive) To pull apart with a snapping sound; to pop loose. (transitive) To say abruptly or sharply. (transitive, dated) To speak to abruptly or sharply; to treat snappishly; usually with up. (transitive) To cause something to emit a snapping sound. (transitive) To close something using a snap as a fastener. (transitive) To snap one's fingers: to make a snapping sound, often by pressing the thumb and an opposing finger of the same hand together and suddenly releasing the grip so that the finger hits against the palm; alternatively, by bringing the index finger quickly down onto the middle finger and thumb. (transitive) To cause to move suddenly and smartly. (transitive) To take a photograph; to release a camera's shutter (which may make a snapping sound). (transitive, American football) To pass the ball from the center to a back; to hike the ball. To misfire. But this weapon will snap short, unfaithful to the hand that employs it. If you bend it too much, it will snap. Blazing firewood snaps. A dog snaps at a passenger. A fish snaps at the bait. She snapped at the chance to appear on television. He snapped at me for the slightest mistake. She should take a break before she snaps. He, by playing too often at the mouth of death, has been snapped by it at last. to snap a fastener MacMorian snapped his fingers repeatedly. He snapped a picture of me with my mouth open and my eyes closed. He can snap the ball to a back twenty yards behind him. The gun snapped.

sneaking / sneak

sneaking n. The act of one who sneaks. adj. furtive; underhanded Then there was much mirth and banter over the swift sneakings for home of certain men carrying large portions of puarka. sneak (sneaked or snuck) n. One who sneaks; one who moves stealthily to acquire an item or information. A cheat; a con artist; a trickster An informer; a tell-tale. (obsolete, cricket) A ball bowled so as to roll along the ground; a daisy-cutter v. (intransitive) To creep or go stealthily; to come or go while trying to avoid detection, as a person who does not wish to be seen. (transitive) To take something stealthily without permission. (transitive, dated) To hide, especially in a mean or cowardly manner. (intransitive) (informal, especially with on) To inform an authority about another's misdemeanours; to tell tales; to grass. My little brother is such a sneak - yesterday I caught him trying to look through my diary. I can't believe I gave that sneak $50 for a ticket when they were selling for $20 at the front gate. He decided to sneak into the kitchen for a second cookie while his mom was on the phone. I went to sneak a chocolate but my dad caught me. If you sneak on me I'll bash you!

slump

v. (intransitive) To collapse heavily or helplessly. (intransitive) To decline or fall off in activity or performance. (intransitive) To slouch or droop. (transitive) To lump; to throw together messily. To fall or sink suddenly through or in, when walking on a surface, as on thawing snow or ice, a bog, etc. n. A heavy or helpless collapse; a slouching or drooping posture; a period of poor activity or performance, especially an extended period. (Scotland, UK, dialect) A boggy place. (Scotland) The noise made by anything falling into a hole, or into a soft, miry place. (Scotland) The gross amount; the mass; the lump. Exhausted, he slumped down onto the sofa. Real estate prices slumped during the recession. The Gunners captain demonstrated his importance to the team by taking his tally to an outstanding 28 goals in 27 Premier League games as Chelsea slumped again after their shock defeat at QPR last week. These different groups [...] are exclusively slumped together under that sense. The latter walk on a bottomless quag, into which unawares they may slump.

sneer

v. (intransitive) To raise a corner of the upper lip slightly, especially in scorn (transitive) To utter with a grimace or contemptuous expression; to say sneeringly. n. A facial expression where one slightly raises one corner of the upper lip, generally indicating scorn. A display of contempt; scorn. to sneer fulsome lies at a person It was a casual sneer, obviously one of a long line. There was hatred behind it, but of a quiet, chronic type, nothing new or unduly virulent, and he was taken aback by the flicker of amazed incredulity that passed over the younger man's ravaged face.

snooze

v. (intransitive) To sleep, especially briefly; to nap. (transitive) To pause; to postpone for a short while. n. A period of sleep; a nap. Something boring. The boss caught him snoozing at his desk. It enables you to dismiss the reminder, dismiss all reminders, open the highlighted item in the Reminder dialog, and snooze the reminder. Snoozing a reminder is similar to hitting the snooze button on an alarm clock [...] Let's say you want to see all your reminders, but you don't want it to be too easy to snooze the ones for important items. The cat enjoys taking a snooze on a sunny windowsill. The whole movie was a snooze.

simper

v. (intransitive) To smile in a foolish, frivolous, self-conscious, coy, or smug manner. (obsolete) To glimmer; to twinkle. n. A foolish, frivolous, self-conscious, or affected smile; a smirk. How the fools kotowed and simpered while I looked over their jewels and speculated upon how much I could get for them! Why, look at him—look at this simpering self-righteous mug! He paused, and then a strange expression appeared on his lips. It was very like a simper.

slink

v. (intransitive) To sneak about furtively. to move or go in a furtive, abject manner, as from fear, cowardice, or shame. to walk or move in a slow, sinuous, provocative way. (transitive) (especially of cows) To give birth to an animal prematurely. n. The young of an animal when born prematurely, especially a calf. (UK, Scotland, dialect) A thievish fellow; a sneak. adj. (Scotland) thin; lean How meek and shrunken did that haughty Tarmac become as it slunk by the wide circle of asphalt of the yellow sort, that was loosely strewn before the great iron gates of Lady Hall as a forerunner of the consideration that awaited the guests of Rupert, Earl of Kare, [...] .

slosh

v. (intransitive, of a liquid) To shift chaotically; to splash noisily. (UK, colloquial, transitive) To punch (someone). n. A quantity of a liquid; more than a splash n. (computing) backslash, the character \. The water in his bottle sloshed back and forth as he ran. She greeted me with a bright smile, and said: "Back already? Did you find it?" With a strong effort I mastered my emotion and replied curtly but civilly that the answer was in the negative. "No," I said, "I did not find it." "You can't have looked properly." Again I was compelled to pause and remind myself that an English gentleman does not slosh a sitting redhead, no matter what the provocation. As the show progressed, a dollop of backfin crabmeat and a slice of mozzarella was added to the veal, fresh sliced white mushrooms to the beef, followed by a slosh of white wine in one pan and a slosh of brandy in the other.

shirk

v. (transitive) To avoid, especially a duty, responsibility, etc.; to stay away from. (intransitive) To evade an obligation; to avoid the performance of duty, as by running away. To procure by petty fraud and trickery; to obtain by mean solicitation. n. one who shirks n. (Islam) the unforgivable sin of idolatry the usual makeshift by which they try to shirk difficulties If you have a job, don't shirk from it by staying off work. One of the cities shirked from the league. You that never heard the call of any vocation, [...] that shirk living from others, but time from yourselves.

sever

v. (transitive) To cut free. (intransitive) To suffer disjunction; to be parted or separated. (intransitive) To make a separation or distinction; to distinguish. (law) To disunite; to disconnect; to terminate. After he graduated, he severed all links to his family. The angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just. The Lord shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt. — Ex. ix. 4. to sever an estate in joint tenancy

smear

v. (transitive) To spread (a substance, especially one that colours or is dirty) across a surface by rubbing. (transitive) To have a substance smeared on (a surface). (transitive) To damage someone's reputation by slandering, misrepresenting, or otherwise making false accusations about an individual, their statements, or their actions. The opposition party attempted to smear the candidate by spreading incorrect and unverifiable rumors about their personal behavior. (intransitive) To become spread by smearing. (climbing) To climb without using footholds, using the friction from the shoe to stay on the wall. n. A mark made by smearing. (medicine) A Pap smear. A false attack. (climbing) A maneuver in which the shoe is placed onto the holdless rock, and the friction from the shoe keeps it in contact The artist smeared paint over the canvas in broad strokes. She smeared her lips with lipstick. The opposition party attempted to smear the candidate by spreading incorrect and unverifiable rumors about their personal behavior. The paint is still wet — don't touch it or it will smear. This detergent cleans windows without leaving smears. I'm going to the doctor's this afternoon for a smear.

snitch

v. (transitive) To steal, quickly and quietly. (transitive) To inform on. (slang, transitive) To contact or cooperate with the police for any reason. n. A thief. An informer, usually one who betrays his group. (UK) A nose.

smuggle

v. (transitive, intransitive) To import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties (transitive) To bring in surreptitiously (slang) To thrash or be thrashed by a bear's claws, or to swipe at or be swiped at by a person's arms in a bearlike manner. While Collins does include a love triangle, a coming-of-age story, and other YA-friendly elements in the mix, they serve as a Trojan horse to smuggle readers into a hopeless world where love becomes a stratagem and growing up is a matter of basic survival. Derived terms smuggling smuggler

snuggle

v. (transitive, intransitive) To lie close to another person or thing, hugging or being cosy. To move or arrange oneself in a comfortable and cosy position. And when the Boy dropped off to sleep, the Rabbit would snuggle down close under his little warm chin and dream, with the Boy's hands clasped close round him all night long. Sometimes my girlfriend and I snuggle. The surrounding buildings snuggled each other. The last drop of jager snuggled the corner of the pint. Tired but satisfied, the children snuggled into their sleeping bags. The pet dog snuggles into its new bed.

shear

v. To cut, originally with a sword or other bladed weapon, now usually with shears, or as if using shears. To remove the fleece from a sheep etc by clipping. (physics) To deform because of shearing forces. (Scotland) To reap, as grain. (figuratively) To deprive of property; to fleece. n. a cutting tool similar to scissors, but often larger the act of shearing, or something removed by shearing (physics) a force that produces a shearing strain (geology) The response of a rock to deformation usually by compressive stress, resulting in particular textures. So trenchant was the Templar's weapon, that it shore asunder, as it had been a willow twig, the tough and plaited handle of the mace, which the ill-fated Saxon reared to parry the blow, and, descending on his head, levelled him with the earth. short of the wool, and naked from the shear After the second shearing, he is a two-shear ram; [...] at the expiration of another year, he is a three-shear ram; the name always taking its date from the time of shearing.

slurp

v. To eat or drink (something) noisily. To make a loud sucking noise. n. A loud sucking noise made in eating or drinking A mouthful of liquid The mud slurped under our shoes.

snatch

v. To grasp quickly. To attempt to seize something suddenly; to catch. To take or seize hastily, abruptly, or without permission or ceremony. To grasp and remove quickly. To steal. (by extension) To take a victory at the last moment. To do something quickly due to limited time available. n. A quick grab or catch. (weightlifting) A competitive weightlifting event in which a barbell is lifted from the platform to locked arms overhead in a smooth continuous movement. A piece of some sound, usually music or conversation. (vulgar slang) A vulva. n. The handle of a scythe; a snead. when half our knowledge we must snatch, not take "How many times have I told you?" she cried, and seized him and snatched his stick away from him. Someone has just snatched my purse! But, with United fans in celebratory mood as it appeared their team might snatch glory, they faced an anxious wait as City equalised in stoppage time. It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing-room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.

shove

v. To push, especially roughly or with force. To move off or along by an act of pushing, as with an oar or pole used in a boat; sometimes with off. (poker, by ellipsis) To make an all-in bet. (slang) To pass (counterfeit money). n. A rough push. (poker slang) An all-in bet. So, after a spell, he decided to make the best of it and shoved us into the front parlor. 'Twas a dismal sort of place, with hair wreaths, and wax fruit, and tin lambrekins, and land knows what all He grasped the oar, received his guests on board, and shoved from shore. I rested [...] and then gave the boat another shove.

sift

v. To sieve or strain (something). To separate or scatter (things) as if by sieving. To examine (something) carefully. But if we still carry on our sifting humour, and ask, What is the foundation of all conclusions from experience ? this implies a new question. It immediately occurred to him to sift her on the subject of Isabella and Theodore.

shamble

v. To walk while shuffling or dragging the feet. n. (mining) One of a succession of niches or platforms, one above another, to hold ore which is thrown successively from platform to platform, and thus raised to a higher level. I wasn't too impressed with the fellow, when he shambled in unenthusiastically and an hour late.