spots
part of speech
noun (a spot, spots); verb (spot, spots, spotted, spotting)
meaning for a pupil
1) Small round marks or patches of a different colour on something, like the spots on a ladybird or a Dalmatian. tree →
2) Small red bumps on the skin, such as pimples or the rash of chickenpox. tree →
3) Places, as in good spots for a picnic or parking spots. tree →
4) As a verb, spots means notices or sees something, often something hard to see: she spots a mistake. tree →
sense in the lessons
In the Tanakh and Jewish tradition: In Leviticus these are pale patches on the skin that a priest examines to decide if a person is clean or unclean. Jeremiah uses the leopard's spots in a saying: they cannot be changed, just as people used to doing evil find it hard to change. Interpretation: The priest, not a doctor, judged them. If the spots were a dull white, he declared the person clean, since this was only a harmless rash. Jeremiah's saying is read as a warning about how hard it is to change bad habits, though return to God is still possible. In the primary lessons: In science, spots describe animals and patterns (leopards have spots, a ladybird has black spots); in health lessons, spots on the skin can be a sign of an illness like chickenpox or measles; in everyday life we talk about spots on clothes (stains) and parking spots. In stories, "he spots a shadow" tells the reader a character noticed something important. Phrases: "spots and stripes", "come out in spots", "hot spots", "a tight spot" (a difficult situation), "on the spot" (right away, or right there).
examples
- And if a man or a woman have in the skin of their flesh bright spots, even white bright spots; (Torah LEV.13.38, JPS 1917) tree →
- then the priest shall look; and, behold, if the bright spots in the skin of their flesh be of a dull white, it is a tetter, it hath broken out in the skin: he is clean. (Torah LEV.13.39, JPS 1917) tree →
- Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? (Prophets JER.13.23, JPS 1917) tree →
- The leopard has dark spots all over its fur. tree →
- My little brother came out in itchy spots when he had chickenpox. tree →
- There are two red spots of paint on my sleeve. tree →
- We found three good spots to put up the tent. tree →
- Mum spots a free parking space and drives in. tree →
- Sam always spots the hidden animal in the picture first. tree →
- A ladybird with seven spots landed on my hand. tree →
- The teacher spots that I forgot to carry the one. tree →
- The Leopard exhibited one by one the various spots which decorated his skin. tree →
note
Spots is the plural of the noun "spot" and also the "he/she/it" form of the verb "spot" (spotted, spotting with double t). In British English "spots" often means pimples; Americans more often say "pimples" or "zits". Spotted can mean "seen" or "covered in spots" (a spotted dress). "On the spot" means immediately, not on a stain. If a problem says "a ladybird has 7 spots", count each spot as one; "spots" on dice are the dots that show the number.
In the corpora
- And if a man or a woman have in the skin of their flesh bright spots, even white bright spots;
- Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?
- Photos online are often smoothed with filters; real skin has lines and spots, and nobody looks like a filter.
- Knowing your weak spots, and saying so, is part of being trustworthy.
- A black panther is a leopard or jaguar with extra dark pigment, and its spots can still be seen in bright light.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «spots» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.