📖 N — The English dictionary · page 2

nap — Everyday, meaning 1: A nap is a short sleep in the day.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To nap is to take a short sleep.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: «Catch someone napping» means find them not ready or not paying attention.↗ Example: The baby takes 2 naps a day.↗ · His nap lasted 45 minutes.↗ · She napped for 1 hour.↗ · The cat naps 3 hours each afternoon.↗ · Grandpa took a nap on the sofa.↗ · My little brother gets grumpy when he misses his nap.↗ · The dog was napping in the sun.↗ · A short cat nap made her feel fresh.↗

napkin — Everyday, meaning 1: A napkin is a square piece of cloth or paper used at meals to wipe your mouth and fingers and keep your clothes clean.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: In some countries «napkin» (or «nappy») once meant a baby's diaper.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A napkin can also be a square cloth used to wrap and carry things.↗ Example: Put your napkin on your lap.↗ · Wipe your mouth with a napkin.↗ · Can I have a paper napkin, please?↗ · We folded the napkins into triangles.↗ · Fold the napkin in half and then in half again to make quarters.↗ · She set the table with plates and napkins.↗ · Then John answered, "I am a merchant"; and opening his napkin he showed her its contents.↗

napoleon — Everyday, meaning 1: (a name) Napoleon Bonaparte was a French general who made himself Emperor of France and conquered much of Europe before he was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A napoleon is a layered pastry with cream filling, also called a mille-feuille or vanilla slice.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A napoleon was an old French gold coin.↗ Example: Napoleon was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo.↗ · Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of France.↗ · Napoleon's army retreated from Russia in the freezing winter.↗ · The Napoleonic Wars lasted many years.↗ · In «Animal Farm», Napoleon is a pig who takes over the farm.↗ · For pudding we had a napoleon with layers of pastry and cream.↗ · Napoleon was sent away to the island of St Helena.↗

napping — Everyday, meaning 1: Napping means sleeping for a short time, especially during the day.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Caught napping (informal) means caught not paying attention or not ready.↗ Example: Shh, the baby is napping.↗ · Grandad was napping in front of the TV.↗ · Cats spend much of the day napping.↗ · The goalkeeper was caught napping and let in a goal.↗ · I like napping after a long swim.↗ · Our dog is napping in the sun.↗ · "Oh, shepherd," said the lady, "I have caught you napping!"↗

nappy — Everyday, meaning 1: (UK, Ireland, Australia, NZ) A thick soft pad of cloth or paper worn by babies around their bottom to catch their wee and poo.↗ Example: Mum is changing the baby's nappy.↗ · My little brother still wears a nappy at night.↗ · Put the dirty nappy in the bin.↗ · The baby has nappy rash, so we use cream.↗ · Cloth nappies can be washed and used again.↗ · We packed nappies and wipes for the trip.↗

nara — Everyday, meaning 1: (a name) Nara is a city in Japan that was once the capital; it is famous for its old temples and the tame deer that walk freely in Nara Park and bow to visitors.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (a name) NARA is short for the National Archives and Records Administration of the USA, which keeps important government papers.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: The nara is also a spiky melon plant that grows in the deserts of Namibia.↗ Example: In Nara, deer walk around the park.↗ · The deer in Nara bow for special crackers.↗ · Nara has a giant bronze Buddha.↗ · Nara was the capital of Japan long ago.↗ · We watched a video of the Nara deer.↗ · NARA keeps the Declaration of Independence in Washington.↗ · The nara melon grows in the Namib desert.↗ · Our pen pal visited Nara on a school trip.↗ · Many, many years ago there lived in Nara, the ancient Capital of Japan, a wise State minister, by name Prince Toyonari Fujiwara.↗

narc — Everyday, meaning 1: (slang, US) A police officer who works to stop illegal drugs.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (slang) A person who tells on others to a teacher, parent or the police; a snitch or tell-tale.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (slang) To tell on someone.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: (slang) Short for «narcissist», a very selfish, vain person.↗ Example: «Don't be a narc and tell Miss,» said Jayden.↗ · In the film, the narc pretended to be a student.↗ · He narced on us about the broken window.↗ · Nobody likes a narc, but telling an adult about danger is the right thing to do.↗ · She called her ex a narc because he only cared about himself.↗ · The older boys thought the new kid was a narc.↗

narcissus — Everyday, meaning 1: A narcissus is a spring flower with a trumpet-shaped middle, such as the daffodil.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: In myth, Narcissus was a youth who fell in love with his own reflection.↗ Example: The narcissus bloomed by the pond.↗ · Narcissus stared at his reflection in the water.↗

narrate — Everyday, meaning 1: To tell a story, describing what happens in order.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To speak the words that go with a film, TV programme or audiobook, explaining what we see.↗ Example: David Attenborough narrates many nature programmes.↗ · The story is narrated by a talking cat.↗ · Can you narrate what happened on the school trip, in order?↗ · Grandpa narrated the tale of how he met Grandma.↗ · The audiobook was narrated by a famous actor.↗ · In this book, the events are narrated by two different children.↗ · She narrated her own video for the science fair.↗ · They are narrated by naked savage women to naked savage children.↗

narration — Everyday, meaning 1: The telling of a story, especially by a narrator.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: The spoken words that explain what is happening in a film, show or play.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: In grammar, narration means reporting what someone said without using their exact words.↗ Example: The story is told in first-person narration.↗ · Who does the narration in the nature film?↗ · Her narration was clear and lively.↗ · The play had narration between the scenes.↗ · Alice in Wonderland uses third-person narration.↗ · Record your narration over the slides.↗ · I have given him a name, and changed the narration into the oblique narration, and toned down the dialect.↗

narrative — Everyday, meaning 1: A story, or a description of events in order.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (adjective) Telling a story (narrative writing, a narrative poem).↗ Everyday, meaning 3: The way a story or set of events is told or explained (the official narrative).↗ Example: Write a narrative about a day at the beach.↗ · A narrative has a beginning, a middle and an end.↗ · The poem is a narrative about a brave knight.↗ · Her narrative of the trip made us laugh.↗ · This book has a first-person narrative using "I".↗ · The class read the narrative aloud.↗ · All this suggests that this is a very early and common form of narrative.↗

narrator — Everyday, meaning 1: The person or voice who tells the story in a book, poem, film or play.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A person who reads or speaks the words that explain what is happening, as in a documentary, audiobook or school play.↗ Example: The narrator of the story is a little dog.↗ · In our class play I was the narrator.↗ · "I opened the door," says the narrator, so it is a first-person story.↗ · David Attenborough is the narrator of many nature programmes.↗ · The narrator doesn't tell us the boy's name until the end.↗ · Can we trust this narrator, or is he hiding something?↗ · The audiobook narrator did funny voices for each character.↗

narrow — Everyday, meaning 1: Narrow means not wide; with only a small distance from one side to the other.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A narrow win, escape or miss is one that only just happens.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To narrow is to become or make something less wide.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: To narrow something down is to make a list of choices smaller.↗ Everyday, meaning 5: Narrow-minded means not willing to accept new or different ideas.↗ Example: The path was too narrow for two bikes.↗ · We walked in single file down the narrow lane.↗ · The team won by a narrow margin of one point.↗ · He had a narrow escape from the falling branch.↗ · The river narrows near the bridge.↗ · We narrowed the choices down to two.↗ · Her eyes narrowed with suspicion.↗ · And the angel of the LORD went further, and stood in a narrow place, where was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left.↗ (Torah NUM.22.26, JPS 1917)↗ · And for the house he made windows broad within, and narrow without.↗ (Prophets 1KI.6.4, JPS 1917)↗ · For a harlot is a deep ditch; and an alien woman is a narrow pit.↗ (Writings PRO.23.27, JPS 1917)↗ · For the bed is too short for a man to stretch himself; and the covering too narrow when he gathereth himself up.↗ (Prophets ISA.28.20, JPS 1917)↗

narrowboat — Everyday, meaning 1: A long, thin boat made to travel on the narrow canals of Britain, usually about 2 metres wide and up to 22 metres long.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Such a boat used as a floating home or for holidays.↗ Example: We spent a week on a narrowboat on the canal.↗ · A horse once pulled the narrowboat along the towpath.↗ · The narrowboat was painted with roses and castles.↗ · My uncle lives on a narrowboat in London.↗ · The narrowboat went slowly through the lock.↗ · Narrowboats are only about two metres wide.↗

narrowly — Everyday, meaning 1: Narrowly means only just, by a small margin: he narrowly missed the bus.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Narrowly can mean with close attention: he watched narrowly.↗ Example: She narrowly escaped the crocodile.↗ · We narrowly missed the train.↗ · The monkey watched the fishermen narrowly.↗ · Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks, and lookest narrowly unto all my paths; Thou drawest Thee a line about the soles of my feet; (Writings JOB.13.27, JPS 1917)↗ · They that saw thee do narrowly look upon thee, they gaze earnestly at thee: 'Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; (Prophets ISA.14.16, JPS 1917)↗

narrowness — Everyday, meaning 1: Being narrow; having little width from side to side.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Being limited or small in range, as in "narrowness of mind" (not open to other ideas).↗ Example: The narrowness of the lane meant the bus could not get through.↗ · We were surprised by the narrowness of the old staircase.↗ · The narrowness of the gap made it hard to squeeze through.↗ · Because of the river's narrowness, a bridge was easy to build.↗ · Her narrowness of mind meant she never tried new food.↗ · The narrowness of the win surprised everyone; it was only one point.↗ · The cave's narrowness made us crawl.↗

narwhal — Everyday, meaning 1: A narwhal is a whale of the Arctic Ocean; the male usually has one very long straight spiral tusk growing from his upper lip, which is really a tooth.↗ Example: The narwhal is called the unicorn of the sea.↗ · A male narwhal has a long spiral tusk.↗ · The narwhal's tusk is actually a tooth.↗ · Narwhals live in the icy Arctic Ocean.↗ · A pod of narwhals came up to breathe through a crack in the ice.↗ · People once sold narwhal tusks as unicorn horns.↗ · Narwhals can dive more than a kilometre deep.↗ · Melting sea ice is a danger for narwhals.↗

nary — In Jewish tradition, meaning 1: A broken-off piece of a longer word, such as "Libyan" or "-nary", left over from the scanned book.↗ It is not a word on its own.↗ Example: nary in which a large number of the characters are identical with the Libyan and Tilinagh.↗ (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914))↗

nasa — Everyday, meaning 1: NASA: the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the space agency of the United States, which sends astronauts, rockets and probes into space.↗ Example: NASA sent astronauts to the Moon.↗ · NASA's rover is driving on Mars.↗ · My brother wants to work for NASA.↗ · NASA scientists study pictures from space telescopes.↗ · We watched a NASA rocket launch online.↗ · NASA works with other countries on the space station.↗ · The NASA website has photos of the planets.↗

nasal — Everyday, meaning 1: Nasal means to do with the nose.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A nasal voice or sound comes partly through the nose, like when you have a cold.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: In phonics and grammar, nasal sounds are m, n and ng.↗ Example: He had a nasal voice because of his cold.↗ · Use the nasal spray twice a day.↗ · M and n are nasal sounds.↗ · Hairs in the nasal passages catch dust.↗ · The French word «bon» has a nasal sound.↗ · She had a nasal infection.↗

nasalise — Everyday, meaning 1: To make a speech sound through the nose, letting air come out of the nose as well as the mouth.↗ Example: French speakers nasalise the vowel in "bon".↗ · Try to say "man" and notice how you nasalise the "a".↗ · Some accents nasalise vowels before "m" and "n".↗ · In French class we practised nasalised vowels.↗ · When you hold your nose you cannot nasalise a sound.↗ · Our teacher showed how "ng" is nasalised at the back of the mouth.↗

nastiness — Everyday, meaning 1: Unkind, mean or spiteful behaviour.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Being very unpleasant, as in the nastiness of a smell or an illness.↗ Example: There was no need for that nastiness; say sorry.↗ · The nastiness of the comments online upset her.↗ · We talked in class about how to stand up to nastiness.↗ · The nastiness of the smell made us hold our noses.↗ · Despite the nastiness of the bug, he was better in a week.↗ · The villain's nastiness grew worse with every chapter.↗ · Kindness can beat nastiness.↗