echo

«echo» in Mova's school dictionary: a sound you hear again because it bounces back off a hard… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (an echo, echoes); verb (echo, echoes, echoed, echoing)

meaning for a pupil

1) An echo is a sound you hear again because it bounces back off a hard surface, like a cliff, a wall or the inside of a cave. tree →

2) To echo means to come back as an echo, or for a place to be full of echoes. tree →

3) To echo someone means to repeat what they said, or to agree with it. tree →

4) An echo of something is a small reminder of it. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science lessons, an echo shows that sound travels in waves and reflects off hard surfaces; soft things like curtains and carpets absorb sound and reduce echoes. Bats and dolphins use echoes to find food and their way (echolocation). Large empty halls, tunnels and cliffs echo. Phrases: «hear an echo», «echo around», «echo back».

examples

• We shouted «Hello!» in the cave and heard the echo. tree →
• Our footsteps echoed in the empty hall. tree →
• Bats use echoes to find insects in the dark. tree →
• Sound bounced off the cliff and came back as an echo. tree →
• The baby echoed every word I said. tree →
• I echo what Sam said; it was a great trip. tree →
• Curtains help stop echoes in a room. tree →
• The music echoed down the tunnel. tree →
• “No, No, No!” repeated the echoes. tree →

note

Plural and verb with he/she/it: «echoes» (with e). Past: «echoed». An echo is a reflected sound, so it comes back a short time later; the further away the wall, the longer the wait.

In the corpora

• Bats catch moths and gnats in the dark by shouting very high squeaks and listening for the echoes.
• Sonar sends a ping and times the echo; sound travels about four times faster in water than in air.
• Some shrews and tenrecs use simple echoes from squeaks to explore tunnels and thick grass.
• They have one blowhole, and most find their food by sending out clicks and listening for the echoes.
• The baiji found fish by sending clicks and listening for echoes, and ship engines may have drowned them out.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «echo» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.