To chatter like a magpie

 

3. cheer vt/i 1) to fill with gladness, hope, high spirits; com­fort, e. g. Everyone was cheered by the good news. He cheered up at once when I promised to help him. Cheer up! Your trou­bles will soon be over. 2) to give shouts of joy, approval, or en­couragement, e. g. The speaker was loudly cheered. Everybody cheered the news that peace had come.

to cheer for (cheer on) to support (a competitor) with cheers, to encourage, e. g. Let's go to the football game and cheer for our favourite team. Please come to the sports meeting to cheer on dur team.

cheer n 1) state of hope, gladness; words of cheer, of en­couragement; 2) shout of joy or encouragement used by spec­tators to encourage or show enthusiasm or support for their team, e. g. The cheers of the spectators filled the stadium.

to give three cheers for to cry, or shout "Hurrah!" three times, e. g. The team members gave three cheers for their captain.

cheerful a 1) happy and contented, e.g. He kept through­out his life his youthful optimism and his cheerful trust in men.

Syn, glad, happy, light-hearted, joyful, joyous

Ant. gloomy

2) bright, pleasant, bringing joy, as a cheerful room, sound, conversation; cheerful surroundings, e. g. Mary's cheerful talk encouraged her friends.

Ant. cheerless, gloomy

cheery a is a rather trivial colloquialism for cheerful.

cheerio interj a colloquial word used as farewell, e. g. Chee­rio, old friends!

cheers 1) is used as a toast "Your health!”, e. g. Does every­body have beer? Yes, cheers. 2) a modern informal use of cheers in British English is to mean good-bye or thank you, e. g. I'll give you a hand tomorrow. Cheers, that'll be great.

 

4. contest vt 1) to argue; debate, dispute, as to contest a state­ment (a point); to try to show that it is wrong, as to contest smb's right to do smth.; 2) to take part in a struggle or competi­tion (with or against srab or smth.), as to contest a match (a race), e. g. Jimhad to contest against the world's best winners in the

 

Games and did well to come third. 3) to fight or compete for, to try to win, as to contest a seat in Parliament, e. g. The soldiers contested every inch of the ground.

Syn. contend

contest n struggle, fight; competition, as a keen contest for the prize; a contest of skill; a musical contest; a close contest, e. g. The ice-hockey championship was a close contest be­tween Canada, Sweden and Russia.

contestant n one who contests

Syn. contender

contestable a open to argument, e. g. That's a contestable statement, you can't prove it.

 

5. emerge vi 1) to come forth into view from an enclosed and obscure place, e. g. The moon emerges from beyond the clouds. 2) to rise into notice and esp. to issue, (come forth) from suffer­ing, subjection, danger, embarrassment, etc., e. g. New artistic developments emerged after the revolution. 3) to come out as the result of investigation, discussion (of a fact, a principle), e. g. At last there emerged Einstein's Theory of Relativity.

Syn. to turn up, to show up

emergency n a sudden happening requiring prompt action; one to be used in an emergency, as an emergency exit (door); an emergency fund; an emergency (forced) landing, e. g. These stairs are to be used only in an emergency. The plane was caught in a snowstorm and had to make an emergency landing.

Syn. juncture, contingency, pinch, crisis

6. go vt with adv and prp

go about 1) to move or travel around, e. g. The quickest way to go about the city is by underground train. 2) to start (smth or doing smth), e. g. I wanted to make a dress but didn't know how to go about it.

go along to proceed, make progress, e. g. You may have some difficulties at first, but you'll find it easier as you go along.

go at (smth or smb) to rush at, attack (informal), e. g. They went at each other furiously.

go back 1) to return, as in conversation (to smth), e. g. Let us go back to what the chairman was saying. 2) to fail to fulfil (a promise, agreement, etc.), e. g. You should never go back on your promise to a child.

 

go behind to examine a deeper level of smth, e. g. You have to go behind the poet's words to see what she really means.

go by (of fault, etc.) 1) to pass without being noticed (infor­mal), e.g. Iknow you were late again this morning, but we'll let it go by. 2) to base one's judgement on smb, e. g. You can't go by what he says, he's very untrustworthy.

go down 1) to be received, esp. with approval, to be liked (by someone), e. g. How did your speech go down (with the pub­lic)? 2) to be considered less worthy, e. g. He went down in my opinion.

go down the drain to be wasted; to fail completely, e. g. All my attempts to helphim went down the drain.

go easy (informal) 1) to behave calmly (usu. imper.), e. g. Go easy, dear, there's nothing to get excited about. 2) to treat some­one kindly, not severely (on, with), e. g. Go easy on the child, will you, she is too young to understand what she did.

go as/so far as (informal) to be bold or direct enough (to do smth), to declare the truth,

e. g. I wouldn't go so far as to say she is a liar.

go into to examine, e. g. The police went into the man's story to see if he was telling the truth.

go over to examine, to see that it is correct, e.g. The coun­sellor went over his story in detail and suggested some im­provements.

go round to move around, to be publicly noticed (doing smth), e. g. You can't go round saying nasty things like that about him.

 

7. hint n slight or indirect indication or suggestion, e. g. She gave him a hint that she would like him to leave. I know how to take a hint. "Hints for housewives" (as the title of an article giv­ing suggestions that will help housewives)

to drop a hint,e. g. Idropped him hints on the impropriety of his conduct.

to give a person a gentle (broad) hint, e. g. Martin gave Joe a gentle hint but it was lost upon him.

hint vi to suggest, to mention casually, e. g. The woman hinted at her urgent need of money. He hinted at my impu­dence. He hinted that I ought to work harder.

Syn. suggest, imply, intimate, insinuate

 

8. rattle vt/i 1)(cause to) make short, sharp sounds quickly, one after the other, e. g. The windows were rattling in the strong wind. The hail rattled on the roof.

to rattle off (colloq.) to talk, to say or repeat smth quickly; to repeat (words) quickly and too easily from memory; to per­form (an action) with ease and speed, e. g. What is the point of teaching the children to rattle off the names of the kings and queens of England if they know nothing about history?

to rattle away/on to talk rapidly and at some length and un­interestingly, e. g. At every meeting of the women's club, Mrs White rattles on for hours.

2) to annoy, cause to feel angry, e. g. My persistent quest­ioning of his story rattled him, and he refused to answer my queries. She was rattled by the hypothetical eyes spying upon her.

Syn. embarrass, discomfit, abash, faze

rattled a annoyed, e. g. In the end he got rattled, (or: We got him rattled.).

 

9. reduce vt/i 1) to take (smth) smaller or less; being smth (such as a price, size, or amount) down to a lower level or smaller size, e. g. Your speed must be reduced to the city speed limit as soon as you cross the border. Taxes should be reduced to an amount that people can afford to pay. The book will have to be reduced to 300 pages. The whole town was reduced to ashes in the bombing. 2) to bring or get to a certain condition, e. g. The new teacher was quickly able to reduce the noisy class to silence. Hunger had reduced the poor dog to skin and bone. His opponent's clever speech reduced the speaker's argument to nonsense.

to reduce by/to, e. g. We have been able to.reduce our tax bill by 10%. The price of the chair has been reduced to $ 10.

to reduce someone to tears to make someone weep, e. g. You may choose to scold this child, but there's no need to reduce him to tears.

Syn. decrease, lessen, diminish, abate, dwindle

reduction n reducing or being reduced, e. g. The goods are sold at a great reduction in price.

Syn. discount