📖 D — The English dictionary · page 31

dimmed — Everyday, meaning 1: Made less bright: the lights were dimmed.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Became less bright by itself.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Made a feeling, hope or memory weaker.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: (on a car) dimmed or dipped headlights point lower so they do not dazzle other drivers.↗ Example: The lights dimmed and the film began.↗ · Dad dimmed the lamp so the baby could sleep.↗ · The stars dimmed as the clouds rolled in.↗ · Her hopes dimmed when it started to rain on sports day.↗ · The screen dimmed to save battery.↗ · The theatre went quiet as the lights dimmed.↗ · Time had dimmed his memory of the old house.↗ · His dimmed mind was just clear enough to remember what she had said, and with trembling fingers, that were almost powerless to grasp, he drew it out.↗ · Mine eye is dimmed because of vexation; it waxeth old because of all mine adversaries.↗ (Writings PSA.6.8, JPS 1917)↗ · Mine eye also is dimmed by reason of vexation, and all my members are as a shadow.↗ (Writings JOB.17.7, JPS 1917)↗

dimmer — Everyday, meaning 1: Dimmer means less bright: «The light grew dimmer.».↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A dimmer (or dimmer switch) is a switch that lets you make a light brighter or less bright.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Informally, dimmer can mean less clever (from dim = not clever) — unkind.↗ Example: The light got dimmer as the sun went down.↗ · Turn the dimmer down for the film.↗ · We have a dimmer switch in the living room.↗ · The torch got dimmer and dimmer.↗ · Stars look dimmer near city lights.↗ · The cave grew dimmer the further we went.↗ · Can you turn the dimmer up?↗ I can't read.↗ · His voice grew dimmer as he walked away.↗

din — Everyday, meaning 1: A loud, long, unpleasant noise, often from many sounds together.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (verb, rare: din, dins, dinned, dinning) To din something into someone means to make them learn it by repeating it again and again.↗ Example: The children made a terrible din in the dining hall.↗ · We could hardly hear the teacher above the din.↗ · What a din!↗ Turn that music down!↗ · The din of the traffic kept me awake.↗ · The parrots made a great din at dawn.↗ · Mum dinned it into us to look both ways before crossing.↗ · The din of hammers came from next door.↗ · Astle, The Origin and Progress of Writing, London 1784, p. 41: rhu!↗ ', IX, 354, 439).↗ <)r he could have meant Jewish astronomers like JIashallah, who was called by Abraham ibn Eira an Indian sage (mr; Din) (see M. (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914))↗

dine — Everyday, meaning 1: (formal) To eat dinner, the main meal of the day.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To dine out: to eat in a restaurant.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To dine on something: to eat it for a meal.↗ Example: We dined at a lovely restaurant by the beach.↗ · The family dines together every evening.↗ · Let's dine out for Grandma's birthday.↗ · The knights dined on roast chicken.↗ · Set the dining table for six.↗ · Four friends dined and shared the bill equally.↗ · Instead, not long afterward, he invited the Fox to dine with him in turn.↗ · And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house: 'Bring the men into the house, and kill the beasts, and prepare the meat; for the men shall dine with me at noon.'↗ (Torah GEN.43.16, JPS 1917)↗

diner — Everyday, meaning 1: A diner is a person who is eating a meal, especially in a restaurant.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: In the USA and Canada, a diner is a small, simple restaurant serving cheap meals like burgers, pancakes and milkshakes, often with a long counter.↗ Example: The diners clapped when the cake arrived.↗ · We had pancakes at the diner.↗ · The waitress served the diners quickly.↗ · The old diner had red seats and a jukebox.↗ · There is a diner by the highway that's open all night.↗ · Each diner got a free drink.↗

ding — Everyday, meaning 1: A ding is a short ringing sound, like a bell or a timer.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: In American and Australian English, a ding is a small dent or mark, often on a car.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To ding is to make a ringing sound, or to dent something slightly.↗ Example: The microwave went ding when the food was ready.↗ · Ding!↗ A new message arrived.↗ · The lift dinged and the doors opened.↗ · There's a small ding in the car door.↗ · The bike bell went ding ding.↗ · He dinged the trolley into the car by accident.↗ · «Ding-dong» went the doorbell.↗ · Accor- ding to some writers Pythagoras was a Greek, according to others, he was either a Phctnician or a Syrian.↗ (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914))↗

dinghy — Everyday, meaning 1: A small open boat, rowed with oars or sailed, often used to get from a bigger boat to the shore.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A small rubber boat that you blow up with air, used for fun or in an emergency (an inflatable dinghy).↗ Example: We rowed the dinghy across the harbour to the yacht.↗ · Dad blew up the rubber dinghy on the beach.↗ · The sailing club teaches children to sail a dinghy.↗ · A dinghy can hold 4 people; how many dinghies do 12 people need?↗ · Always wear a life jacket in a dinghy.↗ · The dinghy tipped over and we got soaking wet.↗ · The big boat towed a little dinghy behind it.↗ · It was the pirate dinghy, with three figures in her, Smee and Starkey, and the third a captive, no other than Tiger Lily.↗

dingle — Everyday, meaning 1: A dingle is a small wooded valley or deep, shady hollow with steep sides.↗ Example: We walked down into the dingle to find the stream.↗ · Ferns grew thick in the dingle.↗ · The old healer lived in a dingle by the wood.↗

dingo — Everyday, meaning 1: A dingo is a wild dog of Australia, usually sandy-yellow, which hunts alone or in packs.↗ Example: A dingo howled in the outback.↗ · Don't feed the dingoes — it's dangerous.↗ · Dingoes hunt kangaroos and rabbits.↗ · The dingo fence is one of the longest fences in the world.↗ · A dingo looks like a sandy dog.↗ · We saw dingo tracks in the sand.↗

dingy — Everyday, meaning 1: Dark, dull and dirty-looking; not bright or clean: a dingy room.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Of colours: faded and dull, not fresh.↗ Example: The dingy room had one small window.↗ · Toad was locked in a dingy dungeon.↗ · Her white socks had gone dingy and grey.↗ · We painted the dingy kitchen bright yellow.↗ · The shop was dingy but full of treasures.↗ · They walked down a dingy back street.↗ · The curtains looked dingy and old.↗ · A dingy light came through the dusty glass.↗ · Instead of dingy velveteen he had brown fur, soft and shiny, his ears twitched by themselves, and his whiskers were so long that they brushed the grass.↗

dining — Everyday, meaning 1: Dining is the -ing form of «dine», which means to eat dinner, especially a proper or special meal.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Dining is used before nouns for places and things where meals are eaten: dining room, dining table, dining hall, dining car.↗ Example: We are dining with Grandma tonight.↗ · The family eats Sunday lunch in the dining room.↗ · Please carry the plates to the dining table.↗ · Our school dining hall is noisy at lunchtime.↗ · My parents enjoy dining out on Fridays.↗ · The train has a dining car where you can eat.↗ · They were dining by candlelight when the power went out.↗ · Jem himself put on his best clothes and went into the dining hall.↗

dinner — Everyday, meaning 1: Dinner is the main meal of the day, usually eaten in the evening.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: In some parts of the UK, Ireland and Australia, dinner means the meal in the middle of the day (lunch), and the evening meal is «tea».↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A dinner is a formal party with a meal.↗ Example: What's for dinner tonight?↗ · We have dinner at six o'clock.↗ · Wash your hands before dinner.↗ · Dad is making spaghetti for dinner.↗ · I had school dinner today.↗ · Grandma invited us to Sunday dinner.↗ · Please set the table for dinner.↗ · They went out for a birthday dinner.↗ · For dinner the Fox served soup.↗ · Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.↗ (Writings PRO.15.17, JPS 1917)↗

dinosaur — Everyday, meaning 1: A dinosaur is one of a large group of reptiles that lived on Earth millions of years ago and died out; some were huge, others were small.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A dinosaur is also a person or thing that is old-fashioned and no longer useful.↗ Example: Tyrannosaurus rex was a fierce meat-eating dinosaur.↗ · We saw a huge dinosaur skeleton at the museum.↗ · Dinosaurs lived millions of years ago.↗ · Scientists learn about dinosaurs by studying fossils.↗ · Some dinosaurs were as small as chickens.↗ · Birds are related to dinosaurs.↗ · Grandpa jokes that his old phone is a dinosaur.↗

dint — Everyday, meaning 1: A dint is a dent or hollow pressed into a hard surface by a blow.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (old use) «By dint of» means by means of, through the force or effect of something.↗ Example: By dint of hard work she passed the test.↗ · He lost his ships by dint of pirates and storms.↗ · The shield had a dint from the sword.↗

diocese — Everyday, meaning 1: (church) An area with many churches and parishes, looked after by a bishop.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: The church community and offices of that area.↗ Example: Our parish is part of the diocese of Dublin.↗ · The bishop visits every church in his diocese.↗ · The cathedral is the main church of the diocese.↗ · Our school is a diocesan school.↗ · The diocese has more than a hundred parishes.↗ · Young people from the whole diocese met for a festival.↗

diode — Everyday, meaning 1: A diode is a small electronic part that lets electric current flow in only one direction, like a one-way door.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A light-emitting diode (LED) is a diode that gives out light when current passes through it.↗ Example: A diode lets the current go only one way.↗ · We put the LED in the circuit backwards, so it did not light up.↗ · Our torch uses tiny diodes instead of an old bulb.↗ · The circuit diagram shows a diode as a triangle with a line.↗ · LED stands for light-emitting diode.↗ · The robot's eyes are two red diodes.↗ · If the diode is turned round, the buzzer stops.↗

dioxide — Everyday, meaning 1: A dioxide is a chemical substance whose molecules have two oxygen atoms joined to another atom.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: In everyday use it almost always means carbon dioxide (CO₂), the gas that people and animals breathe out.↗ Example: We breathe out carbon dioxide.↗ · Plants take in carbon dioxide and give out oxygen.↗ · The bubbles in lemonade are carbon dioxide.↗ · Burning coal makes carbon dioxide.↗ · Carbon dioxide is written CO₂.↗ · Too much carbon dioxide warms the planet.↗ · Volcanoes give off sulphur dioxide.↗ · A candle in a jar goes out when oxygen runs low.↗

dip — Everyday, meaning 1: To dip something means to put it into a liquid quickly and take it out.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To dip means to go down a little, like a road or a price.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A dip is a thick sauce you put food into, like salsa or hummus.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: A dip is a quick swim.↗ Everyday, meaning 5: A dip is a low place in a road or the ground, or a small drop in a number.↗ Example: She dipped her biscuit in her tea.↗ · We had carrot sticks with a cheese dip.↗ · Let's go for a dip in the lake.↗ · The road dips down to the river.↗ · Temperatures dipped below zero last night.↗ · The graph shows a dip in March.↗ · I won a toy in the lucky dip.↗ · He dipped his toe in the water — too cold!↗ · "Oh! my brother, the water reaches to my ankles, Still, Oh! my brother, the pitcher will not dip."↗ · And the priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle it seven times before the LORD, in front of the veil.↗ (Torah LEV.4.17, JPS 1917)↗ · And of Asher he said: Blessed be Asher above sons; let him be the favoured of his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil.↗ (Torah DEU.33.24, JPS 1917)↗ · And the priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle of the blood seven times before the LORD, in front of the veil of the sanctuary.↗ (Torah LEV.4.6, JPS 1917)↗

diplodocus — Everyday, meaning 1: Diplodocus was a huge plant-eating dinosaur with a very long neck and an even longer whip-like tail that lived about 150 million years ago in North America.↗ Example: Diplodocus had a neck as long as a bus.↗ · Diplodocus ate plants, not meat.↗ · Its long tail may have cracked like a whip.↗ · Dippy the Diplodocus visited our city museum.↗ · A Diplodocus was about 25 metres long.↗ · We drew a Diplodocus next to a giraffe to compare sizes.↗

diplomacy — Everyday, meaning 1: The work of governments talking to each other to keep peace, make agreements and sort out problems between countries.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Skill in dealing with people politely and carefully so that nobody gets upset; tact.↗ Example: The two countries ended the quarrel through diplomacy, not war.↗ · Ambassadors work in diplomacy.↗ · Mum used diplomacy to stop my brother and me arguing over the TV.↗ · It takes diplomacy to tell a friend their drawing needs work.↗ · The teacher handled the fight with great diplomacy.↗ · Diplomacy is better than fighting.↗ · "Suppose I make use of a little diplomacy, and play him some sort of a trick!"↗