Englishfor English speakers
a
Determinative
—
A is used when the following word could be any of a certain type.
Compare "A book I saw on the shelf" and "The book I gave you yesterday".
a
Noun
—
A is the first letter of the alphabet.
The letter "a" comes before "b".
—
In some schools, an A is a very high grade.
Ron got an A on his earth science test.
ball
Noun
—
A ball is a round thing. People often use them to play games.
The croquet ball was hit through the wicket and the game was over.
A ball is hit with a racquet in tennis.
—
A ball is a formal dance.
There is an inaugural ball following the swearing-in of the new President.
Cinderella lost her glass slipper at the Prince's ball.
—
the testicles
John's balls ached because he hadn't had sex in two days.
—
"guts", fortitude, moral strength
John didn't have the balls to quit his job, divorce his wife, and start a new life in Tahiti.
ball
Verb
—
If you ball something up, you make it into a ball shape.
Ball the cookie dough, wrap it in paper, then freeze it.
—
sexual intercourse.
park
Noun
—
A park is an outdoor area where people can relax and play.
We sat under the trees and had lunch in Central Park.
Algonquin Provincial Park is the oldest, largest park in Ontario, covering about 7,725 square kilometres.
I'm going to take the kids to the park to play on the swings.
park
Verb
—
If you park a car or other vehicle, you drive it to a place and let it stand there.
She never parks her car under a tree.
figure
Noun
—
Figures are numbers showing the value or amount of something.
The sales figures from the spring were down from last year.
According to the official figures, unemployment levels are about 6 per cent.
You only have to look at the figures for fire deaths in hotels to see this is not a problem.
—
A figure is a person, often a well-known person.
They have published articles about many leading figures including John Reed, J.A. Hobson, Tom Mann, and Daniel de Leon.
The figure of Margaret Thatcher towers over the Falklands War.
—
A figure is a person, especially the person's shape.
She did not see the figure standing in the shadows of the kitchen doorway.
Across the river is the figure of Lenin on top of an armored car carved of stone.
Her girlish figure had disappeared as she aged, sat more, and ate more.
The most popular boy's toy ever is the G.I. Joe action figure.
He looked down at the wet figures of the boy and dog.
—
A figure is a geometric shape.
—
A figure is a picture in a textbook or scientific journal. (Often written fig.)
figure
Verb
—
If mathx/math figures in something that happens, mathx/math is part of that happening.
The weather figured prominently in their plans.
The fact that he wouldn't be there didn't figure among her worries.
—
if you figure something, you think it.
Few people figured that he would win.
—
If you figure something out, you think about it until you understand it.
He figured out that she was speaking Italian.