1459
toccata
killed to a man/to the last man. (=they were all killed) -> see
INCLUSIVE (USAGE) 8 for the attention or possession of: Have
you told all your news to John? | I want a present to give to my
wife. | This is a letter to Mildred from George. | You have no
right to this land. | Will they give you an office to yourself? (=for
your own use, not shared with anyone else) 9 in connection
with: What's your answer to that? | She's always kind to
animals. | a danger to one's health | What have you done to the
radio? It's not working. | There's always an element of risk to
starting up a new business. 10 for; of: Have you got the key to
this lock? He got a job as secretary to a doctor. 11 in relation
with; in comparison with: I know he's successful but he's
nothing to what he could have been. | England beat Scotland by
two goals to one. 12 as far as concerns: That sounds rather
suspicious to me. | It costs £10, and to some people that's a lot of
money. | She has not to my knowledge (=as far as I know)
written any books since that one. 13 (with words about addi-
tion) as well as; and: Add two to four. (Compare Subtract two
from four.) In addition to John, there are the girls. 14 forming;
making up: There are 100 pence to every pound. | There are 11
francs to the pound. 15 in accordance with: Your dress isn't
really to my liking. | You will hear of something to your
advantage. 16 so as to cause (especially a feeling): He broke
it, (greatly) to my annoyance. | To my great surprise, we
won! 17 (of time) before: 'It's five (minutes) to four.' 'No, it's
only ten to four.' | How long is it to dinner? | only two weeks to
Christmas 18 per: This car does 30 miles to the gallon. 19 in
honour of: Let's drink to the health of our respected foreign
guests. | a monument to the war dead 20 (a number) to (a
number) a) between (a number) and (a number): He
drowned in 10 to 12 feet of water. | She's 40 to 45. b) compared
with: It's 100 to 1 he'll lose. (=100 times as likely)
USAGE Compare to and till/until in expressions of time. To
is used a when speaking of the clock: It's five to four, b
when a time is moved forward: They've brought the date
of the meeting forward to Wednesday, (but They've
postponed the meeting till Wednesday) c in certain
expressions like to the last, to this day, to date. To or
till/until can be used a in considering the length of time
before an event: It's an hour to/till dinner, b with from:
We stayed from June to/till September. -> see also
INCLUSIVE (USAGE). Otherwise use till/until: We stayed
until seven. I didn't see him till last week. -> see also
O'CLOCK (USAGE), TIME (USAGE)
to² /tu:/ adv 1 into a shut position: The wind blew the door
to. 2 into consciousness: John didn't come to for half an
hour after he'd fallen and hit his head. -> see also TO-AND-
FRO, close to (CLOSE)
to³ /tə; before vowels tu; strong tu:/ used before a verb to
show it is the INFINITIVE but not before can, could, may,
might, will, would, shall, should, must, or ought; it is left
out after verbs that have the patterns [+v] or [+obj+v]; the
verb that should follow to is sometimes left out if it can be
understood. Note the following patterns: a) (after verbs):
[+to-v] He lived to be 90. | I used to live in New York. | [T+to-v]
He wants to leave. | He can leave if he wants to. | [T+obj+to-v]
They allowed us to go. (compare [+obj+v]) They let us go. | (with
reported commands) He told them to shoot. (=He said 'Shoot!') | He
told them (not) to. b) (after how, where, who, whom,
whose, which, when, what, or whether): [T+wh-] I know
where to go but I don't know how to get there. | She wondered
whether or not to go/wondered whether to or not. | [T+obj+wh-]
Would you tell me when to leave? c) (after nouns): [C+to-v] an
attempt to land | [P+to-v] the qualifications to drive | [U+to-v]
some reason to leave d) (after adjectives): [+to-v] an easy
thing to do | [F+to-v] I'm glad/sorry/happy to say ... e) (when
speaking about the verb, as in grammar): 'To find' takes a
direct object. | To wear boots would be safest. | It would be
safest to wear boots. | What they really should have done was
to accept. f) (used to show purpose) in order to: They left
early to catch the train. | I want some scissors to cut my nails
(with). g) (in the pattern [too+adj+to-v]): It's too cold to go
out. h) (in the pattern [adj+enough+to-v]): It's cold enough
to snow. i) (in the pattern to-v at the beginning of a
statement): To be honest (=speaking honestly), I don't know
anything about it. | To put it another way, do you like him? |
To begin with, let's ... j) (in the pattern There is [++to-v]):
There were plenty of things to eat. | There's also the cost to
consider. (=we must consider it)
It is often considered bad English to put any other
word between to and the verb that follows it, making a
'split infinitive': He was wrong to suddenly say that. But
sometimes there is nowhere else to put the word: Your job
is to really understand these children. | He likes to half
close his eyes.
toad /təʊd/ n an animal like a large FROG, that usually lives
on land, but goes into water for breeding
Toad one of the main characters in the children's story The
Wind in the Willows by Kenneth GRAHAME. Toad is a rich,
proud character who lives in a big house called Toad Hall and
thinks he is very important.
toad-in-the-'hole n [U] a British dish of SAUSAGES baked in
BATTER (=a mixture of eggs, milk, and flour)
toad-stool /'təʊdstu:l/ n a usually poisonous type of FUN-
GUS, that cannot be eaten
toad-y¹ /'təʊdi/ n derog someone who is too nice to people of
higher rank, especially for personal advantage; SYCOPHANT
toady² v [I(to)] derog to be too nice to someone of higher rank,
especially for personal advantage: Johnson's promotion is the
result of toadying to the boss.
to-and-'fro¹ adj (of a repeated journey or movement) for-
wards and backwards or from one side to the other: a
to-and-fro movement —to and fro adv: The teacher walked to
and fro in front of the class as he spoke. | The pendulum
swung to and fro.
to-and-fro² n [(the)S(of)] infml activity in which people or
things move from place to place, pass in opposite directions
etc: the busy to-and-fro of passengers in the airport -> see
also TO-ING AND FRO-ING
toast¹ /təʊst/ n 1 [U] bread made brown by being placed
close to heat, usually eaten hot with butter: I like toast for
breakfast. | a slice of toast 2 [C(to)] an act of drinking espe-
cially wine in a ceremonial way in order to show respect or
admiration for someone or something or to express good
wishes to someone: Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to propose a
toast to the bride and groom. | They drank a toast to the
Queen. 3 [the S] the person or thing in whose honour this is
done 4 [the S+of] someone or something extremely popular in
the stated place or with the stated people: After the success of
her show she was the toast of Broadway/of singers everywhere
toast² v [T] 1 to make (bread, cheese etc) brown by placing it
close to heat -> see COOK (USAGE) 2 infml to warm thoroughly:
He was toasting his feet by the fire. 3 to drink a TOAST to
toast-er /'təʊstər/ n an electrical apparatus for making TOAST
-> see picture at KITCHEN
toast-ie /'təʊsti/ n a toasted SANDWICH: a cheese and ham
toastie
'toasting fork n a long-handled fork for holding bread in
front of an open fire to make TOAST
toast-mas-ter /'təʊstˌmɑːstər||-mæ-/ n a person who says
what the TOASTS are and introduces speakers at a formal
dinner
toast-y /'təʊsti/ adj AmE infml warm, dry, and comfortable: The
bed felt toasty and I didn't want to get up.
to-bac-co /tə'bækəʊ/ n pl. -cos 1 [U] the dried leaves of a
type of plant as prepared for smoking in cigarettes, pipes etc,
or for chewing (CHEW) or SNUFF: a report on the harmful
effects of tobacco | pipe tobacco 2 [C] a particular type of
tobacco: a mild/strong tobacco
to-bac-co-nist /tə'bækənɪst/ n a person in charge of a shop
that sells tobacco, cigarettes etc
to-bog-gan /tə'bɒɡən||-'bɑː-/ n a light frame or board, some-
times on metal blades, used for sliding over snow, especially
down slopes for sport; SLEDGE —toboggan v [I] The children
love to go tobogganing when it snows.
to-by jug /'təʊbi dʒʌɡ/ n (in Britain) a small container for
drinking from, in the form of a fat old man wearing a
three-cornered hat. People sometimes collect toby jugs
because some are worth a lot of money.
toc-ca-ta /tɒ'kɑːtə/ n a piece of music, especially for the
ORGAN, piano, or similar instrument, in a free style with
difficult passages that show the player's skill