📖 S — The English dictionary · page 82

spoken — Everyday, meaning 1: Spoken is the form of «speak» used after have, has, had or be: «I have spoken», «English is spoken here».↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Spoken means said out loud, not written, as in «spoken English».↗ Everyday, meaning 3: «Soft-spoken» or «well-spoken» describes how a person talks.↗ Example: I have spoken to my teacher about the trip.↗ · French is spoken in Canada.↗ · She is a soft-spoken girl.↗ · Spoken English is often less formal than written English.↗ · Not a word was spoken on the long drive.↗ · This seat is already spoken for.↗ · He had never spoken in front of the whole school before.↗ · Meanwhile the swallows had spoken again.↗ · And Balak said unto him: 'What hath the LORD spoken?'↗ (Torah NUM.23.17, JPS 1917)↗ · to thrust out all thine enemies from before thee, as the LORD hath spoken.↗ (Torah DEU.6.19, JPS 1917)↗ · And Moses said: 'Thou hast spoken well; I will see thy face again no more.'↗ (Torah EXO.10.29, JPS 1917)↗ · I the LORD have spoken it.'↗ (Prophets EZK.5.17, JPS 1917)↗ · The Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?↗ (Prophets AMO.3.8, JPS 1917)↗ · Yet ye say: 'Wherein have we spoken against thee?'↗ (Prophets MAL.3.13, JPS 1917)↗

spokesman — Everyday, meaning 1: A spokesman is a person chosen to speak officially for a group, company, team or government, especially to newspapers and TV.↗ Example: A spokesman for the zoo said the panda was healthy.↗ · The police spokesman asked people to stay away.↗ · Our class chose Amy as spokesperson for the school council.↗ · A spokesman for the team said the captain was injured.↗ · The company spokeswoman answered the reporters' questions.↗ · The government spokesman gave a short statement.↗ · "Sir," replied their spokesman, "we cannot find jewels enough."↗ · And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people; and it shall come to pass, that he shall be to thee a mouth, and thou shalt be to him in God's stead.↗ (Torah EXO.4.16, JPS 1917)↗

spokesperson — Everyday, meaning 1: A spokesperson is someone whose job is to speak for a group, company, government or organisation, giving its news and answering questions.↗ Example: A police spokesperson said nobody was hurt.↗ · The school's spokesperson answered questions from parents.↗ · The team picked her as their spokesperson.↗ · A spokesperson for the zoo said the panda was healthy.↗ · The company's spokesperson would not comment.↗ · Our class spokesperson read our ideas to the head teacher.↗

sponge — Everyday, meaning 1: A sponge is a soft thing full of holes that soaks up water, used for washing or cleaning.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A sponge is a simple sea animal that lives fixed to rocks and has a body full of holes.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A sponge or sponge cake is a light, soft cake.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: To sponge something is to wipe or clean it with a wet sponge.↗ Everyday, meaning 5: To sponge off someone means to keep taking money or food from them without giving back (informal).↗ Example: Wipe the table with a damp sponge.↗ · The sponge soaked up all the spilled juice.↗ · Sea sponges are animals that live on the ocean floor.↗ · Grandma baked a jam sponge for tea.↗ · She sponged the mud off her coat.↗ · Little children soak up new words like a sponge.↗ · We tested which material absorbs most water, and the sponge won.↗ · The angry Merchant immediately turned about and drove the Ass back to the seashore, where he loaded him with two great baskets of sponges.↗

spongy — Everyday, meaning 1: Spongy means soft, squashy and full of tiny holes, like a sponge, so it springs back when pressed.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Spongy can describe ground that is soft and wet, or something that has too much give, like spongy brakes.↗ Example: The cake was light and spongy.↗ · Moss feels spongy under your feet.↗ · The inside of a bone is spongy.↗ · The ground near the river was spongy and wet.↗ · Bread dough becomes spongy as it rises.↗ · The old mattress was too spongy.↗ · The old beams had become worm-eaten and spongy--they lay in dust and ashes.↗

sponsor — Everyday, meaning 1: A sponsor is a person or company that gives money to support an event, team or person, often to get their name shown.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A sponsor is someone who promises to give money to charity if you do a task, like a sponsored walk.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To sponsor is to give that money or support.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: At a christening, a sponsor is a person who promises to help bring up a child in their faith.↗ Example: Will you sponsor me for the charity swim?↗ · Grandad sponsored me one pound for every lap.↗ · The football shirts show the sponsor's name.↗ · Our school did a sponsored walk to raise money.↗ · The show was sponsored by a toy company.↗ · I swam 20 lengths at 50 cents each, so my sponsor gave $10.↗ · I suppose the creature must be christened, but I don’t see how we are to ask anyone to be sponsor to him, and what are we to call him?’↗

sponsorship — Everyday, meaning 1: Sponsorship is money or support that a person or company gives to pay for an event, team or activity, often to advertise their name.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Sponsorship is also money people promise to give to charity if you complete a challenge, like a sponsored walk.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Sponsorship can mean officially supporting someone, such as a person moving to a new country or a member joining a club.↗ Example: Our football team got sponsorship from the local bakery.↗ · I raised forty pounds in sponsorship for the charity swim.↗ · The concert was paid for by sponsorship.↗ · The company ended its sponsorship of the race.↗ · My uncle signed a big sponsorship deal.↗ · We need sponsorship to buy new instruments for the band.↗ · Gran gave me sponsorship for every lap I ran.↗

spontaneous — Everyday, meaning 1: Spontaneous means happening or done suddenly, without being planned.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A spontaneous person often does things on the spur of the moment, naturally and freely.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (science) Spontaneous describes something that happens by itself without being caused from outside, like spontaneous combustion.↗ Example: The crowd burst into spontaneous applause.↗ · We made a spontaneous trip to the park.↗ · Her laugh was warm and spontaneous.↗ · He is spontaneous and always has new ideas.↗ · The hug was spontaneous, not planned.↗ · Piles of wet hay can catch fire by spontaneous combustion.↗ · Our teacher likes spontaneous questions in class.↗

spontaneously — Everyday, meaning 1: Spontaneously means doing something suddenly, without planning it first, because you feel like it, as in «the crowd spontaneously started clapping».↗ Everyday, meaning 2: In science, something happens spontaneously when it happens by itself, without anything from outside causing it at that moment.↗ Example: The whole class spontaneously burst into song.↗ · We spontaneously decided to go to the beach.↗ · The fans stood up and cheered spontaneously.↗ · Haystacks can sometimes catch fire spontaneously when they are damp and warm.↗ · She spontaneously hugged the new girl.↗ · The kittens spontaneously started chasing each other.↗ · When once the conscience is awakened, it springs up in the heart spontaneously, and God awakens the conscience when we least expect it.↗

spoof — Everyday, meaning 1: A spoof is a funny copy of something, such as a film, song or advert, that makes fun of it by exaggerating it.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (verb) To spoof something is to make that kind of funny copy.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (computers) Spoofing is pretending to be someone else online, for example sending an email that looks as if it comes from your bank or school, to trick people.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: (informal) A spoof can also be a trick or hoax.↗ Example: The film is a spoof of old superhero movies.↗ · Our class made a spoof news report for fun.↗ · Comedians love to spoof politicians.↗ · That email is a spoof; it isn't really from the bank.↗ · Scammers spoofed the school's phone number.↗ · It was only a spoof, but some people believed it.↗ · The song spoofs famous pop stars.↗

spook — Everyday, meaning 1: (informal) A spook is a ghost.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To spook someone or an animal is to frighten or startle them suddenly.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (informal, US) A spook is a spy.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: (offensive) "Spook" has also been used as a nasty insult for Black people; it should not be used about people.↗ Example: The old house was said to be full of spooks.↗ · The loud bang spooked the horse and it ran off.↗ · Don't creep up behind me — you spooked me!↗ · We dressed up as spooks for Halloween.↗ · The film was about spooks working for the secret service.↗ · The cat was spooked by its own reflection.↗ · Walk calmly near horses so you don't spook them.↗

spooky — Everyday, meaning 1: Spooky means strange and a bit frightening, as if there might be ghosts.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (informal) Spooky can mean strangely surprising, like an odd coincidence.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (informal, of an animal) Easily frightened or nervous, as in a spooky horse.↗ Example: The old house on the hill looks spooky at night.↗ · We told spooky stories around the campfire.↗ · Our classroom is decorated with spooky bats for Halloween.↗ · It's spooky that we both drew the same picture!↗ · The woods were spooky and silent.↗ · The pony is spooky and jumps at plastic bags.↗ · The spookiest part of the film was the creaking door.↗

spoon — Everyday, meaning 1: A spoon is a small tool with a round, shallow end and a handle, used for eating, serving or stirring.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A spoon (a spoonful) is the amount a spoon holds: a spoon of sugar.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To spoon food is to move it with a spoon.↗ Example: I put three spoons on the table.↗ · There are 5 spoons in the drawer.↗ · Lily washes 8 spoons and 4 forks.↗ · Eat your soup with a spoon.↗ · Add one spoon of honey to the tea.↗ · Stir the paint with an old spoon.↗ · A metal spoon gets hot in hot soup.↗ · Mum spooned the beans onto my plate.↗ · "At all events leave with us your silver spoon.↗

spoonbill — Everyday, meaning 1: A spoonbill is a wading bird with a long, flat bill shaped like a spoon.↗ Example: Twelve spoonbills came flying and struck the moist earth.↗ · She turned into a spoonbill and flew away after her companions.↗

spoonerism — Everyday, meaning 1: A spoonerism is a slip of the tongue where you swap the first sounds of two words, often by accident and with a funny result: «a well-boiled icicle» instead of «a well-oiled bicycle».↗ Everyday, meaning 2: It is named after William Spooner, an Oxford teacher who was said to make this mistake often.↗ Example: «Tease my ears» for «ease my tears» is a spoonerism.↗ · Saying «fighting a liar» instead of «lighting a fire» is a spoonerism.↗ · Our teacher made a spoonerism and said «bunny phone» for «funny bone».↗ · Write three spoonerisms of your own.↗ · Many famous spoonerisms were probably invented by Spooner's students.↗ · A spoonerism swaps sounds, not letters: «chew the dores» for «do the chores».↗

spoonful — Everyday, meaning 1: A spoonful is the amount a spoon holds.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: It is used as a rough measure in cooking and medicine, like a spoonful of sugar.↗ Example: Add a spoonful of sugar to the tea.↗ · Take one spoonful of medicine after dinner.↗ · She ate the yoghurt one spoonful at a time.↗ · Mix two spoonfuls of flour with water.↗ · A heaped spoonful has more than a level spoonful.↗ · The baby took one spoonful and spat it out.↗ · If each cup needs 3 spoonfuls of cocoa, 4 cups need 12 spoonfuls.↗ · The witch took a spoonful and tasted it.↗

spore — Everyday, meaning 1: A spore is a tiny cell made by fungi, ferns, mosses and some bacteria that can grow into a new living thing.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Spores do the job that seeds do in flowering plants, but they are much smaller and have no stored food.↗ Example: A mushroom releases millions of spores.↗ · Mould grows on bread from spores in the air.↗ · Look for the brown spots of spores under the fern leaf.↗ · Spores are carried by the wind.↗ · Some bacteria make spores that survive boiling.↗ · Damp rooms can be full of mould spores.↗

spork — Everyday, meaning 1: A spork is a plastic or metal eating tool that is a spoon and a fork in one: a spoon shape with short prongs at the tip.↗ Example: I ate my salad with a plastic spork.↗ · Camping kits often include a spork.↗ · A spork is a spoon and a fork joined together.↗ · "Spork" is made by blending the words "spoon" and "fork".↗ · The spork wasn't good for soup — the soup ran through the gaps.↗ · Forky in Toy Story 4 is made from a spork.↗ · Bring a reusable spork instead of a plastic one.↗

sport — Everyday, meaning 1: A sport is a game or activity where you move your body and follow rules, often to win: football, swimming, netball.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Sport (uncountable, UK) or sports (USA) means all these activities together.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A good sport is someone who plays fairly and is kind whether they win or lose.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: To sport something means to wear it to show it off.↗ Everyday, meaning 5: Sport can also mean fun or teasing, as in "make sport of someone," which means to make fun of them.↗ Example: My favourite sport is swimming.↗ · We have sports day at school next week.↗ · Football is called soccer in the USA, Canada and Australia.↗ · Be a good sport and shake hands after the game.↗ · Ice hockey is a popular sport in Canada.↗ · Doing sport keeps your heart and muscles strong.↗ · He was sporting a new pair of trainers.↗ · Netball is a team sport.↗ · "Surely I've made sport enough for Woe!↗ · And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne unto Abraham, making sport.↗ (Torah GEN.21.9, JPS 1917)↗ · And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife.↗ (Torah GEN.26.8, JPS 1917)↗ · Against whom do ye sport yourselves?↗ (Prophets ISA.57.4, JPS 1917)↗ · There go the ships; there is leviathan, whom Thou hast formed to sport therein.↗ (Writings PSA.104.26, JPS 1917)↗ · So is the man that deceiveth his neighbour, and saith: 'Am not I in sport?'↗ (Writings PRO.26.19, JPS 1917)↗