settle

«settle» in Mova's school dictionary: To come to rest and stay in one place: dust settles on… — 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

verb (settle, settles, settled, settling)

meaning for a pupil

1) To come to rest and stay in one place: dust settles on shelves, the bird settled on a branch. tree →

2) To make yourself calm or comfortable: settle down for the night. tree →

3) To decide or agree on something, or to end an argument: settle a disagreement. tree →

4) To go and live in a new place: the family settled in Canada. tree →

5) To pay what you owe: settle the bill. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science, when muddy water is left still, the soil settles to the bottom (sediment); this is one way to separate a mixture. In history and geography, settlers settled new land and built settlements (villages and towns). In everyday life, teachers ask the class to settle down (be calm and quiet). Friends settle an argument by talking and finding a fair answer. Phrases: "settle down", "settle in" (get used to a new place), "settle an argument", "settle on" (choose), "settle the bill".

examples

• Settle down, everyone, and open your books. tree →
• Let the muddy water settle, and the soil sinks to the bottom. tree →
• The butterfly settled on a flower. tree →
• We settled the argument by taking turns. tree →
• My cousin is settling in at her new school. tree →
• People settled near rivers because of the water. tree →
• We finally settled on pizza for dinner. tree →
• Snow settled on the rooftops overnight. tree →
• "And thus the affair was settled. tree →

note

Spelling: double t, and drop the e before -ing: settling; past: settled. Related nouns: settlement (a place where people live), settler (a person who settles). "Settle down" is often used to ask for calm. In history lessons, settling land often affected people already living there, like Native Americans, First Nations, Aboriginal Australians and Māori.

In the corpora

• Babies feed from the breast or a bottle, often for twenty minutes or more, and they need calm to settle.
• Animals living together settle into rules about who sleeps where and who eats first, so real fights become rare.
• Llamas and alpacas live in the Andes; their blood carries oxygen well, and they spit mostly at each other to settle arguments.
• They gave milk, wool, meat, eggs and muscle power, and let people settle in villages.
• A cosy bed nearby and a calm voice help it settle over a few nights.

Trees and pragmatics

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