pat
part of speech
verb (pat, pats, patted, patting); noun (a pat, pats); adverb (off pat — learned perfectly)
meaning for a pupil
1) To pat means to touch someone or something gently and quickly with your flat hand, several times. tree →
2) A pat is a light, gentle touch with your hand. tree →
3) A pat of butter is a small flat piece. tree →
4) To have something off pat means to know it perfectly by heart. tree →
sense in the lessons
In everyday life, you pat a dog to stroke it gently (ask the owner first and let the dog sniff your hand), pat someone on the back to say «well done», and pat dry a wet face or a graze with a towel instead of rubbing. «A pat on the back» means praise. In cooking, «pat the dough flat». In school, «have your times tables off pat» means know them perfectly.
examples
- Can I pat your dog? tree →
- Ask the owner before you pat a dog. tree →
- Pat your skin dry with a towel. tree →
- The teacher gave me a pat on the back. tree →
- She patted the dough into a circle. tree →
- He had the poem off pat. tree →
- A pat of butter melted on the toast. tree →
- And then his grandmother patted his head and told him other stories. tree →
note
Regular verb: patted, patting (double t). «Pat» is gentle; «tap» is a light knock; «slap» is hard and can hurt. «Pat» is also a short name for Patrick or Patricia.
In the corpora
- He pats both their heads and says «This is not the sort of night for small animals to be out.»
- The Rat says nothing for a while, just pats his shoulder.
- The Cat pats his cheek and tickles him with his tail, and the Baby laughs.
- "Enhanced pat-down" is a US official phrase for a thorough body search, for example at an airport.
- Always ask the owner before you pat a dog, and wait for them to say yes.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «pat» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.