📖 S — The English dictionary · page 90

standstill — Everyday, meaning 1: A standstill is a complete stop, when nothing is moving.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: «Come to a standstill» means stop moving or stop making progress.↗ Example: The traffic came to a standstill.↗ · The horse came to a standstill by the graveyard.↗ · Work was at a standstill during the storm.↗ · The game came to a standstill when the ball got stuck.↗

stank — Everyday, meaning 1: Stank is the past form of «stink»: it smelled very bad.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Stank can also mean (informal) that something was very bad or poor: the film stank.↗ Example: The bin stank after a week in the sun.↗ · His socks stank after the football match.↗ · The room stank of fish.↗ · The pond stank in the hot weather.↗ · The rotten egg stank so badly we opened the windows.↗ · That joke stank (informal).↗ · The cheese stank, but it tasted great.↗ · And they gathered them together in heaps; and the land stank.↗ (Torah EXO.8.14, JPS 1917)↗

stanza — Everyday, meaning 1: A stanza is a group of lines in a poem, set apart from the other groups by a space, like a paragraph in a story; it is often called a verse.↗ Example: This poem has four stanzas.↗ · Each stanza has four lines that rhyme.↗ · Read the first stanza aloud.↗ · In the last stanza, the poet feels hopeful.↗ · Write a stanza about your favourite season.↗ · A stanza is like a paragraph in a poem.↗ · The second stanza describes the sea at night.↗ · And if one stanza sounded painfully--↗

staple — Everyday, meaning 1: A small piece of thin bent wire pushed through papers to hold them together.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To fasten things together with staples.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A basic food or thing that people use or eat all the time, such as rice or bread.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: (adjective) Main, basic, most important: a staple food.↗ Everyday, meaning 5: A U-shaped metal pin hammered into wood to hold a wire.↗ Example: Please staple your pages together before you hand them in.↗ · The stapler has run out of staples.↗ · Rice is the staple food for billions of people.↗ · Bread and milk are staples in our kitchen.↗ · Fish was a staple of their diet.↗ · The teacher stapled our drawings on the board.↗ · Be careful not to staple your finger!↗ · Pasta is a staple in our house.↗ · But beside these more modern collections there exist in old and middle Irish a large number of hero-tales (class 2) which formed the staple of the old ollahms or bards.↗

star — Everyday, meaning 1: A star is a huge ball of burning gas far away in space that we see as a bright point in the night sky.↗ The Sun is a star.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A star is a shape with five or more points.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A star is a very famous actor, singer or player.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: A gold star is a reward for good work.↗ Everyday, meaning 5: To star in a film is to have a main part in it.↗ Example: Lily got 3 gold stars on Monday and 4 on Tuesday.↗ · The teacher has 50 star stickers.↗ · Each star has 5 points.↗ · Sam drew 6 rows of 8 stars.↗ · On a clear night you can see thousands of stars.↗ · The Sun is the star at the centre of our solar system.↗ · She was the star of the school play.↗ · The hotel has four stars.↗ · His eyes were fixed on the stars.↗ · the LORD your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude. — (Torah DEU.1.10, JPS 1917)↗ · And God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; and the stars.↗ (Torah GEN.1.16, JPS 1917)↗ · Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now the LORD thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.↗ (Torah DEU.10.22, JPS 1917)↗ · And behold the topmost of the stars, how high they are!↗ (Writings JOB.22.12, JPS 1917)↗ · They fought from heaven, the stars in their courses fought against Sisera.↗ (Prophets JDG.5.20, JPS 1917)↗ · How art thou fallen from heaven, O day-star, son of the morning!↗ (Prophets ISA.14.12, JPS 1917)↗

starch — Everyday, meaning 1: A white substance found in foods such as bread, rice, pasta and potatoes, which gives the body energy.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A powder or spray used to make clothes stiff.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (verb) To make cloth stiff with starch.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: A person who is starched-up is very stiff, formal and proud in their manner.↗ Example: Bread, rice and potatoes are full of starch.↗ · Starchy foods give you energy.↗ · Iodine turns blue-black when it touches starch.↗ · We tested foods for starch in science.↗ · Plants store food as starch.↗ · The cook used corn starch to thicken the gravy.↗ · Grandma starched the tablecloth for the party.↗ · Saliva begins breaking down starch in your mouth.↗ · It is true, I was always a fine starched-up gentleman!↗

starchy — Everyday, meaning 1: Starchy food contains a lot of starch, a kind of carbohydrate found in potatoes, bread, rice, pasta and corn.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Starchy clothes are stiff because they have been treated with starch.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (informal) A starchy person is stiff, formal and unfriendly.↗ Example: Potatoes, rice and pasta are starchy foods.↗ · Starchy foods give us energy for running about.↗ · The iodine turned blue-black, so the bread was starchy.↗ · Sweetcorn is a starchy vegetable.↗ · His shirt collar was so starchy it scratched his neck.↗ · The starchy old butler never smiled.↗ · Try to eat starchy foods with lots of vegetables.↗

stardust — Everyday, meaning 1: (science) Dust made in old stars and spread in space when they die; the atoms in our bodies were made inside stars long ago.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (literary) A magical, dreamy or romantic quality, like sparkle or charm.↗ Example: The iron in your blood was made in stars — you are stardust!↗ · The spacecraft collected stardust from a comet's tail.↗ · The fairy sprinkled stardust over the sleeping town.↗ · The singer had a bit of stardust about her.↗ · Scientists study stardust to learn how stars make new elements.↗ · The song says the night sky was full of stardust.↗

stare — Everyday, meaning 1: To stare means to look at someone or something for a long time without looking away.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A stare is a long, fixed look.↗ Example: It's rude to stare at people.↗ · He stared out of the window, thinking.↗ · Never stare at the Sun.↗ · She stared at the strange box in surprise.↗ · Don't stare into a dog's eyes; it may feel threatened.↗ · The owl stared at us with big yellow eyes.↗ · He gave me a cold stare.↗ · I sat staring into space instead of working.↗ · Out came the giant and began to stare at Tom.↗

starer — Everyday, meaning 1: A person who stares, looking at someone or something for a long time with fixed eyes.↗ Example: The baby is a real starer — she watches everyone on the bus.↗ · Don't be a starer; it's rude.↗ · The starer at the window watched us all afternoon.↗ · My cat is a starer; she sits and looks at the wall.↗ · The starers on the platform watched the steam train pass.↗ · Don't be a starer at the boy in the wheelchair; just say hello.↗

starfish — Everyday, meaning 1: A starfish is a sea animal shaped like a star, usually with five arms, that lives on the sea floor and on rocks.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Scientists also call it a sea star, because it is not a fish.↗ Example: We found a starfish in the rock pool.↗ · A starfish usually has five arms.↗ · Starfish are not fish, so scientists call them sea stars.↗ · A starfish can grow a new arm if it loses one.↗ · Put the starfish gently back in the water.↗ · Starfish eat mussels by opening their shells.↗ · The starfish was orange and bumpy.↗ · She lay on the sand like a starfish.↗

stargazer — In Jewish tradition, meaning 1: A person who studies the stars, especially to tell the future.↗ Example: Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels; let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from the things that shall come upon thee.↗ (Prophets ISA.47.13, JPS 1917)↗

stark — Everyday, meaning 1: Stark means bare, plain and harsh, with nothing added.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: «Stark naked» or «stark mad» means completely naked or completely mad.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: «Stark» can also be an adverb meaning totally: stark staring mad.↗ Example: The room was stark and empty.↗ · The girl was stark naked in the cold river.↗ · The giant was stark mad with anger.↗ · The winter landscape looked stark and grey.↗

starless — Everyday, meaning 1: Starless means with no stars to be seen, usually because the sky is covered by cloud or it is very dark.↗ Example: The sky was starless and black.↗ · We could not find the moon on the starless night.↗ · Clouds made the evening starless.↗ · She walked home through a starless, cold street.↗

starlight — Everyday, meaning 1: Starlight is the light that comes from the stars.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: It is the faint light you see on a clear night when there is no moon.↗ Example: We walked home by starlight.↗ · Starlight shone on the frozen lake.↗ · Starlight from far stars takes a very long time to reach us.↗ · In the city, street lamps hide the starlight.↗ · The owl hunted by starlight.↗ · The poem describes silver starlight on the sea.↗ · It was a lovely starlight night in the beginning of September, and the air was mild and still.↗

starling — Everyday, meaning 1: A starling is a common bird with dark shiny feathers that look purple and green in the sun, often covered in small pale spots in winter.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A large swirling flock of starlings in the evening sky is called a murmuration.↗ Example: Starlings gathered on the roof every evening.↗ · We watched a murmuration of starlings over the pier.↗ · The starling copied the sound of a phone ringing.↗ · A starling's feathers shine purple and green in the sun.↗ · Starlings eat insects and grubs from the lawn.↗ · Starlings were brought to New Zealand by settlers.↗ · The starling flew off with a worm in its beak.↗ · Thousands of starlings make shapes in the sky like a cloud.↗ · The little white Princess always woke in her little white bed when the starlings began to chatter in the pearl gray morning.↗

starlit — Everyday, meaning 1: Starlit means lit up by stars, so that the sky or the ground can be seen faintly at night.↗ Example: We walked home on a starlit night.↗ · The starlit sky was full of tiny lights.↗ · The ship sailed across the starlit sea.↗ · The garden looked magical in starlit darkness.↗

starry — Everyday, meaning 1: Full of stars; lit by stars.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Shining like stars; sparkling.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: «starry-eyed»: hopeful and dreamy, not seeing problems.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: (informal) To do with famous people: a starry cast.↗ Example: We lay on the grass and looked at the starry sky.↗ · Van Gogh painted «The Starry Night».↗ · The starry night was cold and clear.↗ · Her eyes were starry with excitement.↗ · He was starry-eyed about becoming a famous footballer.↗ · The film has a starry cast of famous actors.↗ · Were the chambers like a starry sky seen from the top of a high mountain?"↗

start — Everyday, meaning 1: The start is the beginning of something: the start of the race.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To start is to begin to do something: start reading.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To start something is to make it begin or work: start the car.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: To start can mean to jump a little in surprise.↗ Everyday, meaning 5: «For a start» means as the first point.↗ Everyday, meaning 6: To start for a place means to set off on a journey towards it.↗ Example: What if at the start I had put two pears instead?↗ · At the start, Ben had 9 cards.↗ · How many cards did Zoe have at the start?↗ · The race starts at ten o'clock.↗ · Let's start from the beginning.↗ · It started to rain.↗ · I start school next week.↗ · The loud bang made me start.↗ · Stand behind the start line.↗ · Toward evening they started for home.↗ · 11) As the infinite series of numbers starts from one unit, so was the whole Universe formed a unity, that centres in the Godhead.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Kalisch 1877)↗ · And the doors shall be shut in the street, when the sound of the grinding is low; and one shall start up at the voice of a bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low; (Writings ECC.12.4, JPS 1917)↗

starter — Everyday, meaning 1: (UK, Ireland, Australia, NZ) A small dish eaten as the first part of a meal; in the US called an appetizer.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A person who starts a race, or a person or team that begins a game (not a substitute).↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A device that starts an engine.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: «For starters» (informal): to begin with; first of all.↗ Everyday, meaning 5: Something to start with: a starter pack, a conversation starter, a sourdough starter.↗ Example: For a starter I'll have the tomato soup.↗ · The starter costs $5, the main $12 and the pudding $4 — $21 in all.↗ · The starter fired the gun and the race began.↗ · He's a starter now, not a sub.↗ · For starters, your room is a mess.↗ · The car's starter is broken, so it won't start.↗ · Our maths starter today was a times-table quiz.↗