Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Slang of day: Kickback



kickback

Meaning: a payment made, often secretly or illegally, to someone who has helped to arrange a deal or a job
For example:
  • Several corrupt politicians were arrested for getting kickbacks from companies that were given huge government contracts. 
  • We'll have to pay a $50,000 kickback to the school's principal if we want to get the job of building their new assembly hall.
Quick Quiz:
The company that built the new national stadium gave the Minister of Sports a kickback that was
  1. very painful
  2. quite popular
  3. worth $100,000

Word:Number

Numbers

1addv. to put one number together with another [eg: 2 plus 2] - addition n.
2billionn. 1,000,000,000; one thousand million; 109
3dividev. 2 ÷ 2 [is expressed as] two divided by two - division n.
4equalv. to be the same as [eg: 2 + 2 equals 4]
5gigaone billion
6hundredn. 100; 102
7kiloone thousand - k, K abbr.
8megaone million - M abbr.
9millionn. 1,000,000; one thousand thousand; 106
10minusp. 2 - 2 [is expressed as] two minus two
11multiplyv. 2 x 2 [is expressed as] two multiplied by two - multiplication n.
12plusp. 2 + 2 [is expressed as] two plus two
13squarev. to multiply a number by the same number [eg: 3 squared = 9]
14square rootn. number that multiplied by itself gives a certain number [3 is the square root of 9]
15subtractv. to deduct one number from another [eg: 2 minus 2] - subtraction n.
16thousandn. 1,000; 103
17timesp. 2 x 2 [is expressed as] two times two - see multiply
18to the power ofmultiplication of a number by itself [eg: 2 to the power of 3 = 8]
19trillionn.1,000,000,000,000; a million million; 1012
20zeron. 0; oh; nought

Word:Part of Fruit



Flesh
Skin
Seed










melon





mel‧on [uncountable and countable]



a large round fruit with sweet juicy flesh




shell [countable]

nut

1

a) the hard outer part that covers and protects an egg, nut, or seed:
  • Never buy eggs with cracked shells.
  • peanuts roasted in their shells
b) the hard protective covering of an animal such as a snail, mussel, or crab:
  • a snail shell
  • The children were collecting shells on the beach.
Pulp:


fruit/vegetable

 [uncountable] noun the soft inside part of a fruit or vegetable:



  • Halve the melon and scoop out the pulp.

peel
1 [transitive] to remove the skin from fruit or vegetables:
Peel and dice the potatoes.

peel [uncountable and countable]
the skin of some fruits and vegetables, especially the thick skin of fruits such as oranges, which you do not eat[↪ rindzest]:
orange peel


pith
pith [uncountable]
1 a white substance just under the outside skin of oranges and similar fruit:
Peel the oranges with a sharp knife to remove all pith.

seg‧ment [countable]
2 a part of a fruit, flower, or insect that it naturally divides into:
Decorate with orange segments.
rind [uncountable and countable]
1 the thick outer skin of some types of fruit, such as oranges [↪ peelzest]:
grated lemon rind
2 the thick outer skin of some foods, such as bacon or cheese
zest
3 [uncountable] the outer skin of an orange or lemon, used in cooking [↪ peel,rind]:
grated orange zest



Word:Pin cushion

pincushionpin‧cush‧ion [countable]noun
a soft filled bag for sticking pins in until you need to use them

Word:Finch


finch [countable]noun
a small bird with a short beak

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Collocations of Law

break the law (=do something illegal)obey the lawbecome law (=officially be made a law)enforce the law (=make people obey the law)by law (=according to the law)be against the law (=be illegal)within the law (=legal or legally)tax/copyright/divorce etc law (=all the laws about tax etc)criminal lawcivil lawinternational lawfederal law American English (=the law of the US, not of a particular state)