Collins Dictionaries - Collins Primary Illustrated Dictionary

August

NOUN the eighth month of the year. August has 31 days.

aunt aunts

NOUN Your aunt is the sister of your mother or father, or the wife of your uncle.

author authors

NOUN The author of a book is the person who wrote it.

authority authorities

NOUN 1 the power to tell other people what to do • The teacher had the authority to give me detention.

2 an organization that controls public interests • the local health authority

3 Someone who is an authority on something, knows a lot about it.

authorize authorizes, authorizing, authorized

VERB If someone authorizes something, they give official permission for it.

authorization NOUN

auto-

PREFIX 1 self or same • autobiography

2 self-propelling • automatic car

autobiography autobiographies

NOUN an account of someone’s life that they have written themselves

autobiographical ADJECTIVE

autograph autographs

NOUN the signature of a famous person

[from Greek auto meaning self and graphos meaning written]

automatic automatics

ADJECTIVE 1 An automatic machine is programmed to perform tasks without needing a person to operate it.

NOUN 2 a car in which the gears change automatically as the car’s speed changes

autumn autumns

NOUN the season between summer and winter, when the leaves fall off the trees • I love the golden colours of the trees in autumn.

available

ADJECTIVE 1 If something is available, it is easy to get or to buy.

2 A person who is available is ready for work or free to talk to.

avalanche avalanches

NOUN a huge mass of snow and ice that falls down a mountainside

avenue avenues

NOUN a street, especially one with trees along it

average averages

NOUN 1 a result obtained by adding several amounts together and then dividing the total by the number of different amounts • If I shared 36 sweets between four children, the average would be nine sweets per child.

ADJECTIVE 2 standard or usual • The average teenager is interested in pop music.

SYNONYMS: normal, ordinary, typical

PHRASE 3 You say on average when mentioning what usually happens in a situation. • Men are, on average, taller than women.

aviary aviaries

NOUN a large cage or group of cages in which birds are kept

aviation

NOUN the science of flying aircraft

avocado avocados

NOUN a pear-shaped fruit with dark green skin, soft greenish-yellow flesh, and a large stone

avoid avoids, avoiding, avoided

VERB 1 If you avoid someone or something, you keep away from them. • To avoid him, she went home the other way.

2 If you avoid doing something, you make an effort not to do it.

SYNONYMS: dodge, shirk

awake

ADJECTIVE Someone who is awake is not sleeping.

award awards, awarding, awarded

NOUN 1 a prize or certificate for doing something well

VERB 2 If someone awards you something, they give it to you formally or officially. • He was awarded the prize for fastest runner.

aware

ADJECTIVE 1 If you are aware of something, you know about it.

2 If you are aware of something, you can see, hear, smell or feel it.

away

ADVERB 1 moving from a place • I saw them walk away from the house.

2 at a distance from a place • The nearest supermarket is 12 kilometres away.

3 in its proper place • He put his CDs away.

4 not at home, school or work • My friend’s been away from school for a week.

awe

NOUN FORMAL a feeling of great respect mixed with amazement, and sometimes slight fear • Looking up at the mountains, we felt a sense of awe.

awful

ADJECTIVE very unpleasant or very bad • Isn’t the weather awful?

SYNONYMS: dreadful, terrible

awkward

ADJECTIVE 1 difficult to deal with • an awkward situation

2 clumsy and uncomfortable • The large bag was awkward to carry.

[from Old Norse ofugr meaning turned the wrong way]

axe axes

NOUN a tool with a handle and a sharp blade, used for chopping wood

axis axes

NOUN 1 an imaginary line through the middle of something, around which it moves • The earth turns on its axis.

2 one of the two sides of a graph

axle axles

NOUN the long bar that connects a pair of wheels on a vehicle

Bb

babble babbles, babbling, babbled

VERB If someone babbles, they talk in a quick and confused way that is difficult to understand.

baboon baboons

NOUN an African monkey with a pointed face, large teeth and a long tail

baby babies

NOUN a child in the first year or two of its life

baby-sit baby-sits, baby-sitting, baby-sat

VERB If you baby-sit for someone, you look after their children while they are out.

bachelor bachelors

NOUN a man who has never been married

back backs, backing, backed

ADVERB 1 When people or things move back, they move in the opposite direction to the one they are facing.

2 When you go back to a place or situation, you return to it. • She went back to sleep.

NOUN 3 the rear part of your body

ADJECTIVE 4 The back parts of something are the ones at the rear. • the dog’s back legs

VERB 5 If a building backs on to something, the back of it faces in that direction.

backbone backbones

NOUN the column of linked bones along the middle of the back of a human and other vertebrates

background backgrounds

NOUN 1 the things in a picture or scene that are less noticeable than the main things

2 the kind of home you come from, and your education and experience

backstroke

NOUN a style of swimming movement on your back

backward

ADJECTIVE If you take a backward look, you look behind you.

backwards

ADVERB 1 If you move backwards, you move to a place behind you.

2 If you do something backwards, you do it opposite to the usual way. • He told them to count backwards from 20 to 5.

bacon

NOUN meat from the back or sides of a pig, which has been salted or smoked

bacteria

PLURAL NOUN very tiny organisms that can cause disease

[from Greek bakterion meaning little rod; some bacteria are rod-shaped]

bacterial ADJECTIVE

bad worse, worst

ADJECTIVE 1 Bad things are harmful or upsetting. • I have some bad news.

SYNONYMS: distressing, grave, terrible

2 not enough or of poor quality • We thought the film was very bad.

3 Bad food is not fresh.

SYNONYMS: rotten, decayed

badge badges

NOUN a piece of plastic or metal with a design or message on it that you can pin to your clothes

badger badgers, badgering, badgered

NOUN 1 a nocturnal mammal that has a white head with two black stripes on it

VERB 2 If you badger someone, you keep asking them questions or pestering them to do something.

badly worse, worst

ADVERB 1 not well, poorly • The script was badly written.

2 seriously • She was badly hurt in the accident.

badminton

NOUN a game in which two or four players use rackets to hit a feathered object, called a shuttlecock, over a high net

bag bags

NOUN a container for carrying things in

[From Old Norse baggi meaning bundle]

baggage

NOUN Your baggage is all the suitcases, holdalls and bags that you take with you when you travel.

bagpipes

PLURAL NOUN a musical instrument played by squeezing air out of a leather bag and through pipes

baguette baguettes

NOUN a long, thin French loaf of bread

bail bails

NOUN 1 In cricket, the bails are the two small pieces of wood placed on top of the stumps to form the wicket.

2 a sum of money paid to a court to allow an accused person to go free until the time of the trial • The accused man was released on bail.