-
acquire
0
v 1: come into the possession of something concrete or abstract;
"She got a lot of paintings from her uncle"; "They acquired
a new pet"; "Get your results the next day"; "Get
permission to take a few days off from work" [syn: get,
acquire]
2: take on a certain form, attribute, or aspect; "His voice took
on a sad tone"; "The story took a new turn"; "he adopted an
air of superiority"; "She assumed strange manners"; "The gods
assume human or animal form in these fables" [syn: assume,
acquire, adopt, take on, take]
3: come to have or undergo a change of (physical features and
attributes); "He grew a beard"; "The patient developed
abdominal pains"; "I got funny spots all over my body";
"Well-developed breasts" [syn: grow, develop, produce,
get, acquire]
4: locate (a moving entity) by means of a tracking system such
as radar
5: win something through one's efforts; "I acquired a passing
knowledge of Chinese"; "Gain an understanding of
international finance" [syn: acquire, win, gain] [ant:
lose]
6: gain knowledge or skills; "She learned dancing from her
sister"; "I learned Sanskrit"; "Children acquire language at
an amazing rate" [syn: learn, larn, acquire]
7: gain through experience; "I acquired a strong aversion to
television"; "Children must develop a sense of right and
wrong"; "Dave developed leadership qualities in his new
position"; "develop a passion for painting" [syn: develop,
acquire, evolve]
-
admire
0
v 1: feel admiration for [syn: admire, look up to] [ant:
look down on]
2: look at with admiration
-
afire
0
adj 1: lighted up by or as by fire or flame; "forests set ablaze
(or afire) by lightning"; "even the car's tires were
aflame"; "a night aflare with fireworks"; "candles alight
on the tables"; "houses on fire" [syn: ablaze(p),
afire(p), aflame(p), aflare(p), alight(p), on
fire(p)]
-
amplifier
0
n 1: electronic equipment that increases strength of signals
passing through it
-
aspire
0
v 1: have an ambitious plan or a lofty goal [syn: draw a bead
on, aspire, aim, shoot for]
-
attire
0
n 1: clothing of a distinctive style or for a particular
occasion; "formal attire"; "battle dress" [syn: attire,
garb, dress]
v 1: put on special clothes to appear particularly appealing and
attractive; "She never dresses up, even when she goes to
the opera"; "The young girls were all fancied up for the
party" [syn: overdress, dress up, fig out, fig up,
deck up, gussy up, fancy up, trick up, deck out,
trick out, prink, attire, get up, rig out, tog
up, tog out] [ant: dress down, underdress]
-
backfire
0
n 1: the backward escape of gases and unburned gunpowder after a
gun is fired [syn: blowback, backfire]
2: a loud noise made by the explosion of fuel in the manifold or
exhaust of an internal combustion engine
3: a fire that is set intentionally in order to slow an
approaching forest fire or grassfire by clearing a burned
area in its path
4: a miscalculation that recoils on its maker [syn: backfire,
boomerang]
v 1: come back to the originator of an action with an undesired
effect; "Your comments may backfire and cause you a lot of
trouble" [syn: backfire, backlash, recoil]
2: emit a loud noise as a result of undergoing a backfire; "My
old car backfires all the time"
3: set a controlled fire to halt an advancing forest to prairie
fire
-
bemire
0
v 1: make soiled, filthy, or dirty; "don't soil your clothes
when you play outside!" [syn: dirty, soil, begrime,
grime, colly, bemire] [ant: clean, make clean]
-
bonfire
0
n 1: a large outdoor fire that is lighted as a signal or in
celebration [syn: bonfire, balefire]
-
campfire
0
n 1: a small outdoor fire for warmth or cooking (as at a camp)
-
choir
0
n 1: a chorus that sings as part of a religious ceremony
2: a family of similar musical instrument playing together [syn:
choir, consort]
3: the area occupied by singers; the part of the chancel between
sanctuary and nave
v 1: sing in a choir [syn: choir, chorus]
-
classifier
0
n 1: a person who creates classifications
2: a word or morpheme used in some languages in certain contexts
(such as counting) to indicate the semantic class to which
the counted item belongs
-
conspire
0
v 1: engage in plotting or enter into a conspiracy, swear
together; "They conspired to overthrow the government"
[syn: conspire, cabal, complot, conjure,
machinate]
2: act in unison or agreement and in secret towards a deceitful
or illegal purpose; "The two companies conspired to cause the
value of the stock to fall" [syn: conspire, collude]
-
crossfire
0
n 1: a lively or heated interchange of ideas and opinions
2: fire from two or more points so that the lines of fire cross
-
dire
0
adj 1: fraught with extreme danger; nearly hopeless; "a
desperate illness"; "on all fronts the Allies were in a
desperate situation due to lack of materiel"-
G.C.Marshall; "a dire emergency" [syn: desperate,
dire]
2: causing fear or dread or terror; "the awful war"; "an awful
risk"; "dire news"; "a career or vengeance so direful that
London was shocked"; "the dread presence of the headmaster";
"polio is no longer the dreaded disease it once was"; "a
dreadful storm"; "a fearful howling"; "horrendous explosions
shook the city"; "a terrible curse" [syn: awful, dire,
direful, dread(a), dreaded, dreadful, fearful,
fearsome, frightening, horrendous, horrific,
terrible]
-
drumfire
0
n 1: intense and continuous artillery fire [syn: cannonade,
drumfire]
-
emulsifier
0
n 1: a surface-active agent that promotes the formation of an
emulsion
-
expire
0
v 1: lose validity; "My passports expired last month" [syn: run
out, expire]
2: pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and
functions necessary to sustain life; "She died from cancer";
"The children perished in the fire"; "The patient went
peacefully"; "The old guy kicked the bucket at the age of
102" [syn: die, decease, perish, go, exit, pass
away, expire, pass, kick the bucket, cash in one's
chips, buy the farm, conk, give-up the ghost, drop
dead, pop off, choke, croak, snuff it] [ant: be
born]
3: expel air; "Exhale when you lift the weight" [syn: exhale,
expire, breathe out] [ant: breathe in, inhale,
inspire]
-
fire
0
n 1: the event of something burning (often destructive); "they
lost everything in the fire"
2: the act of firing weapons or artillery at an enemy; "hold
your fire until you can see the whites of their eyes"; "they
retreated in the face of withering enemy fire" [syn: fire,
firing]
3: the process of combustion of inflammable materials producing
heat and light and (often) smoke; "fire was one of our
ancestors' first discoveries" [syn: fire, flame,
flaming]
4: a fireplace in which a relatively small fire is burning;
"they sat by the fire and talked"
5: once thought to be one of four elements composing the
universe (Empedocles)
6: feelings of great warmth and intensity; "he spoke with great
ardor" [syn: ardor, ardour, fervor, fervour,
fervency, fire, fervidness]
7: fuel that is burning and is used as a means for cooking; "put
the kettle on the fire"; "barbecue over an open fire"
8: a severe trial; "he went through fire and damnation"
9: intense adverse criticism; "Clinton directed his fire at the
Republican Party"; "the government has come under attack";
"don't give me any flak" [syn: fire, attack, flak,
flack, blast]
v 1: start firing a weapon [syn: open fire, fire]
2: cause to go off; "fire a gun"; "fire a bullet" [syn: fire,
discharge]
3: bake in a kiln so as to harden; "fire pottery"
4: terminate the employment of; discharge from an office or
position; "The boss fired his secretary today"; "The company
terminated 25% of its workers" [syn: displace, fire,
give notice, can, dismiss, give the axe, send away,
sack, force out, give the sack, terminate] [ant:
employ, engage, hire]
5: go off or discharge; "The gun fired" [syn: fire,
discharge, go off]
6: drive out or away by or as if by fire; "The soldiers were
fired"; "Surrender fires the cold skepticism"
7: call forth (emotions, feelings, and responses); "arouse
pity"; "raise a smile"; "evoke sympathy" [syn: arouse,
elicit, enkindle, kindle, evoke, fire, raise,
provoke]
8: destroy by fire; "They burned the house and his diaries"
[syn: burn, fire, burn down]
9: provide with fuel; "Oil fires the furnace" [syn: fuel,
fire]
-
gunfire
0
n 1: the act of shooting a gun; "the gunfire endangered innocent
bystanders"; "they retreated in the face of withering enemy
fire" [syn: gunfire, gunshot]
-
hellfire
0
n 1: a place of eternal fire envisaged as punishment for the
damned [syn: hellfire, red region]
-
hire
0
n 1: a newly hired employee; "the new hires need special
training"
2: the act of hiring something or someone; "he signed up for a
week's car hire"
v 1: engage or hire for work; "They hired two new secretaries in
the department"; "How many people has she employed?" [syn:
hire, engage, employ] [ant: can, dismiss,
displace, fire, force out, give notice, give the
axe, give the sack, sack, send away, terminate]
2: hold under a lease or rental agreement; of goods and services
[syn: rent, hire, charter, lease]
3: engage for service under a term of contract; "We took an
apartment on a quiet street"; "Let's rent a car"; "Shall we
take a guide in Rome?" [syn: lease, rent, hire,
charter, engage, take]
-
inquire
0
v 1: inquire about; "I asked about their special today"; "He had
to ask directions several times" [syn: ask, inquire,
enquire]
2: have a wish or desire to know something; "He wondered who had
built this beautiful church" [syn: wonder, inquire,
enquire]
3: conduct an inquiry or investigation of; "The district
attorney's office investigated reports of possible
irregularities"; "inquire into the disappearance of the rich
old lady" [syn: investigate, inquire, enquire]
-
inspire
0
v 1: heighten or intensify; "These paintings exalt the
imagination" [syn: inspire, animate, invigorate,
enliven, exalt]
2: supply the inspiration for; "The article about the artist
inspired the exhibition of his recent work"
3: serve as the inciting cause of; "She prompted me to call my
relatives" [syn: prompt, inspire, instigate]
4: spur on or encourage especially by cheers and shouts; "The
crowd cheered the demonstrating strikers" [syn: cheer,
root on, inspire, urge, barrack, urge on, exhort,
pep up]
5: fill with revolutionary ideas [syn: revolutionize,
revolutionise, inspire]
6: draw in (air); "Inhale deeply"; "inhale the fresh mountain
air"; "The patient has trouble inspiring"; "The lung cancer
patient cannot inspire air very well" [syn: inhale,
inspire, breathe in] [ant: breathe out, exhale,
expire]
-
intensifier
0
n 1: a modifier that has little meaning except to intensify the
meaning it modifies; "`up' in `finished up' is an
intensifier"; "`honestly' in `I honestly don't know' is an
intensifier" [syn: intensifier, intensive]
-
ire
0
n 1: a strong emotion; a feeling that is oriented toward some
real or supposed grievance [syn: anger, choler, ire]
2: belligerence aroused by a real or supposed wrong (personified
as one of the deadly sins) [syn: wrath, anger, ire,
ira]
-
justifier
0
n 1: a person who argues to defend or justify some policy or
institution; "an apologist for capital punishment" [syn:
apologist, vindicator, justifier]
-
lyre
0
n 1: a harp used by ancient Greeks for accompaniment
-
magnifier
0
n 1: a scientific instrument that magnifies an image
-
mire
0
n 1: a soft wet area of low-lying land that sinks underfoot
[syn: mire, quagmire, quag, morass, slack]
2: deep soft mud in water or slush; "they waded through the
slop" [syn: slop, mire]
3: a difficulty or embarrassment that is hard to extricate
yourself from; "the country is still trying to climb out of
the mire left by its previous president"; "caught in the mire
of poverty"
v 1: entrap; "Our people should not be mired in the past" [syn:
entangle, mire]
2: cause to get stuck as if in a mire; "The mud mired our cart"
[syn: mire, bog down]
3: be unable to move further; "The car bogged down in the sand"
[syn: grind to a halt, get stuck, bog down, mire]
4: soil with mud, muck, or mire; "The child mucked up his shirt
while playing ball in the garden" [syn: mire, muck,
mud, muck up]
-
misfire
0
n 1: an explosion that fails to occur [syn: misfire, dud]
2: a failure to hit (or meet or find etc) [syn: miss,
misfire]
v 1: fail to fire or detonate; "The guns misfired"
-
modifier
0
n 1: a content word that qualifies the meaning of a noun or verb
[syn: modifier, qualifier]
2: a moderator who makes less extreme or uncompromising
3: a person who changes something; "an inveterate changer of the
menu" [syn: changer, modifier]
4: a gene that modifies the effect produced by another gene
[syn: modifier, modifier gene]
-
nullifier
0
n 1: an advocate of nullification; someone who believes that a
state can resist federal laws
2: an official who can invalidate or nullify; "my bank check was
voided and I wanted to know who the invalidator was" [syn:
invalidator, voider, nullifier]
-
pacifier
0
n 1: someone who tries to bring peace [syn: conciliator,
make-peace, pacifier, peacemaker, reconciler]
2: anything that serves to pacify
3: device used for an infant to suck or bite on [syn:
comforter, pacifier, baby's dummy, teething ring]
-
perspire
0
v 1: excrete perspiration through the pores in the skin;
"Exercise makes one sweat" [syn: sweat, sudate,
perspire]
-
purifier
0
n 1: an apparatus for removing impurities
-
qualifier
0
n 1: a contestant who meets certain requirements and so
qualifies to take part in the next stage of competition;
"the tournament was won by a late qualifier"
2: a content word that qualifies the meaning of a noun or verb
[syn: modifier, qualifier]
-
quantifier
0
n 1: (logic) a word (such as `some' or `all' or `no') that binds
the variables in a logical proposition [syn: quantifier,
logical quantifier]
2: (grammar) a word that expresses a quantity (as `fifteen' or
`many')
-
quire
0
n 1: a quantity of paper; 24 or 25 sheets
-
rectifier
0
n 1: electrical device that transforms alternating into direct
current
2: a person who corrects or sets right; "a rectifier of
prejudices"
-
retire
0
v 1: go into retirement; stop performing one's work or withdraw
from one's position; "He retired at age 68"
2: withdraw from active participation; "He retired from chess"
[syn: retire, withdraw]
3: pull back or move away or backward; "The enemy withdrew";
"The limo pulled away from the curb" [syn: withdraw,
retreat, pull away, draw back, recede, pull back,
retire, move back] [ant: advance, go on, march on,
move on, pass on, progress]
4: withdraw from circulation or from the market, as of bills,
shares, and bonds
5: break from a meeting or gathering; "We adjourned for lunch";
"The men retired to the library" [syn: adjourn, withdraw,
retire]
6: make (someone) retire; "The director was retired after the
scandal"
7: dispose of (something no longer useful or needed); "She
finally retired that old coat"
8: lose interest; "he retired from life when his wife died"
[syn: retire, withdraw]
9: cause to be out on a fielding play [syn: put out, retire]
10: cause to get out; "The pitcher retired three batters"; "the
runner was put out at third base" [syn: retire, strike
out]
11: prepare for sleep; "I usually turn in at midnight"; "He goes
to bed at the crack of dawn" [syn: go to bed, turn in,
bed, crawl in, kip down, hit the hay, hit the
sack, sack out, go to sleep, retire] [ant: arise,
get up, rise, turn out, uprise]
-
sapphire
0
adj 1: of something having the color of a blue sapphire;
"sapphire eyes"
n 1: a precious transparent stone of rich blue corundum valued
as a gemstone
2: a transparent piece of sapphire that has been cut and
polished and is valued as a precious gem
3: a light shade of blue [syn: azure, cerulean, sapphire,
lazuline, sky-blue]
-
shellfire
0
n 1: shooting artillery shells
-
shire
0
n 1: a former administrative district of England; equivalent to
a county
2: British breed of large heavy draft horse [syn: shire,
shire horse]
-
signifier
0
n 1: the phonological or orthographic sound or appearance of a
word that can be used to describe or identify something;
"the inflected forms of a word can be represented by a stem
and a list of inflections to be attached" [syn: form,
word form, signifier, descriptor]
-
spire
0
n 1: a tall tower that forms the superstructure of a building
(usually a church or temple) and that tapers to a point at
the top [syn: steeple, spire]
-
spitfire
0
n 1: a highly emotional and quick-tempered person (especially a
girl or woman)
-
squire
0
n 1: young nobleman attendant on a knight
2: an English country landowner
3: a man who attends or escorts a woman [syn: squire,
gallant]
v 1: attend upon as a squire; serve as a squire
-
testifier
0
n 1: a person who testifies or gives a deposition [syn:
testifier, deponent, deposer]
-
tyre
0
n 1: a port in southern Lebanon on the Mediterranean Sea;
formerly a major Phoenician seaport famous for silks [syn:
Sur, Tyre]
2: hoop that covers a wheel; "automobile tires are usually made
of rubber and filled with compressed air" [syn: tire,
tyre]
-
verifier
0
n 1: someone who vouches for another or for the correctness of a
statement [syn: voucher, verifier]
-
versifier
0
n 1: a writer who composes rhymes; a maker of poor verses
(usually used as terms of contempt for minor or inferior
poets) [syn: rhymer, rhymester, versifier,
poetizer, poetiser]
-
wildfire
0
n 1: a raging and rapidly spreading conflagration
-
wire
0
n 1: ligament made of metal and used to fasten things or make
cages or fences etc
2: a metal conductor that carries electricity over a distance
[syn: wire, conducting wire]
3: the finishing line on a racetrack
4: a message transmitted by telegraph [syn: telegram, wire]
v 1: provide with electrical circuits; "wire the addition to the
house"
2: send cables, wires, or telegrams [syn: cable, telegraph,
wire]
3: fasten with wire; "The columns were wired to the beams for
support" [ant: unwire]
4: string on a wire; "wire beads"
5: equip for use with electricity; "electrify an appliance"
[syn: electrify, wire]
-
samphire
0
n 1: fleshy maritime plant having fleshy stems with rudimentary
scalelike leaves and small spikes of minute flowers;
formerly used in making glass [syn: glasswort,
samphire, Salicornia europaea]
-
beautifier
0
-
brushfire
0
-
ceasefire
0
-
clarifier
0
-
codifier
0
-
dehumidifier
0
-
fortifier
0
-
glorifier
0
-
humidifier
0
-
indemnifier
0
-
liquefier
0
-
preamplifier
0
-
sanctifier
0
-
unifier
0
-
ayer
0
-
sophia
0
-
surefire
0
-
rimfire
0
-
granophyre
0
-
defier
0
-
portfire
0
-
scarifier
0
-
electrifier
0