8.0 H

8.1 habit...
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habit n. 1 custom, routine, practice, convention, policy, pattern,
usage, mode, rule, wont, praxis: Jogging every morning had
become a habit. She is a creature of habit. 2 tendency,
disposition, manner, practice, way, custom, inclination, bent,
predisposition, second nature, frame of mind, attitude,
penchant, propensity, proclivity; addiction, compulsion: This
kettle has a habit of leaking. Try to control your bad habits.
3 attire, clothing, dress, apparel, clothes, garb, costume,
garments, vestments, uniform, raiment, livery, regalia,
habiliment(s), Colloq gear: She was disguised in a monk's
habit.


habitable adj. liveable, inhabitable: With some effort, two rooms were
made habitable.

habitat n. abode, home, haunt, domain, range, territory, bailiwick,
realm, terrain, element, environment, surroundings, Colloq
stamping-ground: The winter habitat of the monarch butterfly is
in northern Mexico. Curtis doesn't function well outside his
natural habitat.

habitual adj. 1 settled, fixed, customary, usual, conventional,
accustomed, set, rooted, established, traditional, standard,
routine, ritual, regular, normal, wonted, common, ordinary,
natural: He follows his habitual practice of rising at dawn. 2
inveterate, established, chronic, confirmed, hardened,

ingrained, frequent, persistent, constant, continual, perpetual:
Many English people are habitual tea-drinkers.

habitu‚ n. frequenter, patron, regular customer, Colloq regular: Larry
has been a habitu‚ of The Bell Inn for 20 years.

hackฐ v. 1 chop, hew, lacerate, gash, slash, cut; mangle, butcher,
mutilate, ruin, destroy, smash, batter, damage, deface: He
hacked the furniture to pieces with an axe. 2 bark, cough: She
was disgusted by the man's hacking and spitting.

--n. 3 cut, gash, slash, chop: He took a hack at the log with
his hatchet.


hack n. 1 drudge, penny-a-liner, scribbler, Grub Street writer: We
made a mistake hiring that hack as a feature writer. 2 plodder,
drudge, toiler, menial, flunkey, lackey, slave, Brit fag, Slang
grind, Brit swot: Fergus gets good grades because he's such a
hack. 3 saddle-horse, riding-horse, hackney, Archaic palfrey:
The hack was a fine bay mare.

--adj. 4 hackneyed, trite, banal, overdone, commonplace,
routine, stereotyped, stock, tired, tedious, mediocre,
overworked, stale, unoriginal, run-of-the-mill, humdrum,
moth-eaten, mouldy, Colloq old hat: Haverstock keeps publishing
hack romances.

hag n. crone, fury, witch, ogress, gorgon, harpy, fishwife,
harridan, shrew, virago, termagant, vixen, hell-cat, maenad or
menad, Xanthippe, Archaic beldam; dog, beast, monster; Colloq
battleaxe, Slang bitch, bag, US two-bagger: Perseus met the
Graeae, three old hags with one eye that they passed among them.

haggard adj. gaunt, drawn, wasted, emaciated, hollow-eyed,
hollow-cheeked, scrawny, scraggy, ghastly, cadaverous, run-down,
wearied, weary, careworn, spent, played out, exhausted,
toil-worn, worn, shrunken, withered: She looked haggard, as if
she hadn't slept for a week.


haggle v. wrangle, bargain, higgle, bicker, chaffer, palter, dispute,
squabble, quibble, negotiate; barter, deal; Colloq US dicker:
However little you ask for the lamp, she's sure to haggle over
the price.


hailฐ v. 1 greet, accost, address, signal, call: Robert hailed us
from across the road. 2 cheer, salute, applaud, approve,
glorify, praise, laud, honour, acclaim, congratulate,
felicitate, acknowledge: He was hailed by all for his
charitable work.

hail v. 1 rain or beat or shower (down) on, bombard, pelt, volley,
barrage: Rocks and debris hailed down on us from the cliffs
above.

--n. 2 volley, storm, shower, torrent, bombardment, barrage:
They were greeted by a hail of abuse when they entered the
meeting hall.


hair n. 1 tresses, locks, mane, curls, ringlets; braids, plaits:
You will recognize her by her red hair. 2 hair's breadth,
whisker, trifle, fraction, skin of one's teeth: He won the race
by a hair.


hairdo n. coiffure, hairstyle, cut, coif: Your hairdo is very
becoming.

hairless adj. bald, bald-headed, bald-pated, glabrous, calvous: She
finds hairless men rather sexy.

hair-splitting
adj. quibbling, (over-)fussy, hypercritical, petty, captious,
carping, fault-finding, finicky, (over)nice, fastidious,
cavilling, niggling, Colloq nit-picking: His hair-splitting
attention to detail gets on my nerves.

hairy adj. 1 hirsute, shaggy, downy, fleecy, fluffy, woolly, lanate
or lanose, lanuginous or lanuginose, bristly, setaceous, setal,
hispid, comate or comose, fringy, crinite, trichoid, strigose or
strigous, strigillose; whiskered, bewhiskered, bearded, barbate,
unshaven: The creature had a very hairy face. 2 tricky,
dangerous, perilous, risky, uncertain, precarious, hazardous,
frightening, worrying, nerve-racking or nerve-wracking, Colloq
scary: The situation at the office has become very hairy. 3
tangled, intricate, knotty, complex, complicated, difficult,
problematic, confused, confusing: The exam contained some hairy
questions.


hale adj. healthy, hearty, fit (as a fiddle), sound, able-bodied,
hardy, wholesome, robust, flourishing, in good or fine fettle,
in the pink: Her grandmother was as hale and hearty as ever.


half-hearted
adj. indifferent, uncaring, unconcerned, lukewarm,
uninterested, dispassionate, cool, unenthusiastic, half-baked,
nonchalant, phlegmatic, lackadaisical, insouciant: The council
has made only a half-hearted effort to solve the problem.

halfwit n. dunce, fool, idiot, simpleton, ninny, ass, ninny-hammer,
moron, imbecile, dolt, dunderhead or dunderpate, rattle-brain,
nincompoop, dullard, Colloq numskull or numbskull, nitwit,
dim-wit, birdbrain, Brit nit, twit: He's such a halfwit, he can
hardly expect me to give him a job!

halfwitted
adj. stupid, foolish, silly, simple, inane, asinine, moronic,
imbecilic, doltish, rattle-brained, feeble-minded, attocerebral,
cretinous, thick, non compos mentis, dim-witted, weak-minded,
Colloq dumb, Brit dotty, barmy (in the crumpet): She had some
halfwitted idea that she would win the lottery.


hall n. 1 corridor, hallway, passageway, passage; foyer, entry,
entry-way, lobby, vestibule: Let us step out into the hall for
a brief word. 2 auditorium, assembly or meeting or convention
hall, theatre, amphitheatre, hired hall; lecture-room,
lecture-hall, classroom: We hired a hall for the wedding
reception.

hallmark n. 1 authentication, verification, seal or stamp (of
authenticity or approval), mark, device, sign, symbol;
plate-mark; assay-mark: From this hallmark we know when and
where the piece was made, by whom, and its degree of purity.
Surprise endings are the hallmark of O. Henry's short stories. 2
feature, stamp, mark, earmark, trade mark, characteristic,
identification: From his hallmark, a tiny axe, you can tell
that the painting is a genuine Fellworthy.


hallow v. 1 consecrate, bless, sanctify, dedicate, honour, enshrine,
glorify: Englishmen look upon this battlefield as hallowed
ground. 2 venerate, worship, revere, reverence, respect,

honour, pay homage or respect or honour to, exalt: We must
observe the hallowed traditions of the university.

hallucination
n. fantasy, mirage, day-dream, illusion, delusion, vision,
dream, aberration, chimera, phantasm, phantom, figment of the
imagination, apparition, spectre, ghost; par‘sthesia: Alone at
sea for a fortnight, I began having hallucinations.


halo n. nimbus, aura, aureole or aureola, corona, radiance, Painting
vesica, mandorla; ring, disc, circle, annulation, annulus: The
saints can be identified by the golden halos round their heads.

halt n. 1 stop, standstill, end, termination, close, stoppage,
cessation: We must call a halt to absenteeism in the factory.

--v. 2 stop, quit, end, terminate, cease, check, curb, stem,
discontinue, desist, bring or come or draw to an end or close,
put an end or stop to, conclude, shut or close down or up: We
halted when we came to the river. The guerrillas halted the
armoured column at the pass.

halting adj. hesitant, hesitating, wavering, shifting, uneven,
faltering, stumbling, faulty, unsteady, awkward, stammering,
stuttering: He told her in halting English that there was no
news of her friend.

hamperฐ v. slow, balk or baulk, delay, hold up, retard, inhibit,
encumber, hinder, obstruct, block, impede, prevent, interfere
with, frustrate, restrict, curb, limit, handicap, restrain,
trammel, bar, barricade, shackle, clog, curtail, lessen, reduce,
diminish: Ice floes hampered their further progress.

hamper n. basket, pannier, creel, Brit punnet; hanaper, Dialectal
skep: A hamper arrived from Fortnum's, packed full of
delicacies such as foie gras and peaches in brandy.

hand n. 1 Slang mitt, paw, US lunch-hook: Keep your hands off me,
you oaf! 2 help, aid, assistance, helping hand, relief, boost;
leg up: Please give me a hand with this trunk. 3 influence,
agency, participation, involvement, part, share: Did you have a
hand in my getting the appointment? 4 (manual) labourer,
worker, workman, man, help, employee: It's getting harder to

find hands for the farm. 5 pointer, indicator, index: The
minute hand covers the hour hand at noon and midnight. 6 (round
of) applause, ovation, clap: Give the lad a hand for trying. 7
handwriting, penmanship, script; calligraphy: The writing was
in a hand that she could not recognize. 8 Often, hands.
control, hold, grasp, possession, custody, clutches, keeping,
power, disposal, jurisdiction, authority, supervision,
management, guardianship, care: At last, the government is in
the hands of the people. 9 at hand. nearby, close, near, close
by, handy, (readily) available, to or on hand, at one's
fingertips, convenient, within (arm's) reach, accessible,
present; approaching, imminent, around the corner: He always
kept a pistol at hand. The Day of Judgement is at hand. 10 hand
in glove. hand in hand, in league, together, in collusion,
collusively, connivingly, conspiringly, intimately, closely,
jointly, Colloq in cahoots: An informer is working hand in
glove with the police. 11 hand in hand. together, side by side,
hand in glove: They walked hand in hand down the road. 12
hand-over-fist. quickly, speedily, rapidly, swiftly, steadily,
like mad: He makes money hand-over-fist in the stock market.
13 hands down. easily, readily, effortlessly: He can win the
marathon hands down.

--v. 14 give, pass, deliver, present to or with: Please hand
me the hammer. 15 hand down or on or over. a bequeath, will,
pass on; transfer, turn over: The farm has been handed down
from father to son for seven generations. b See 18 (a), below.
16 hand in. submit, give in, tender, proffer, offer: I handed
in my resignation. 17 hand out. distribute, disseminate, pass
out or round or around, give out, deal (out), mete or dole out,
dispense; disburse: She was handing out leaflets to passers-by.
18 hand over. a deliver, submit, yield, give up, surrender,
turn over; transfer: The man produced a gun and told the
cashier to hand over the money. b See 15 (a), above.


handcuffs n.pl. manacles, shackles, Colloq cuffs, bracelets, Slang Brit
darbies: The police put handcuffs on them all.

handful n. 1 few, couple, sprinkling, small number; fistful: Only a
handful of restaurants are open that late. He gave the beggar a
handful of change. 2 (behaviour or disciplinary) problem,
bother, mischief-maker, troublemaker, nuisance: Timothy was a
real handful when he was five.


handicap n. 1 hindrance, restraint, encumbrance, restriction,
limitation, impediment, barrier, bar, obstacle, (stumbling)
block, constraint, check, curb, trammel, disability,
disadvantage: Did Douglas Bader view the loss of his legs as a
handicap?

--v. 2 hinder, hamper, restrain, encumber, restrict, limit,
impede, bar, block, check, curb, trammel, disable, disadvantage:
He was severely handicapped by the loss of his sword.

handily adv. 1 readily, easily, effortlessly, without strain,
comfortably, with both hands tied (behind one's back): Donald
handily won the first prize in the poetry competition. 2
skilfully, capably, deftly, cleverly, dexterously, adroitly,
expertly, proficiently, masterfully: I could never do that
intricate work as handily as she.

handle n. 1 grip, hilt, handgrip, haft, helve: Hold it by the handle,
not the blade.

--v. 2 feel, touch, finger, hold; caress, fondle, pat: Be
careful how you handle that knife. 3 manage, run, operate,
direct, administer, supervise, oversee, control, command, guide:
At the age of 26, she was handling all foreign business for the
company. 4 steer, control, manage, cope with, manoeuvre,
manipulate: Are you sure he can handle that horse? 5 deal or
trade or traffic in, (buy and) sell, market: The gang was found
to be handling stolen goods worth millions every month. 6 treat,
control, deal with, cope with: She handled the customers with
the utmost tact and respect. 7 treat, employ, use, utilize;
deal with, wield, tackle, manipulate: Don't you admire how she
handled the perspective in this painting?


handsome adj. 1 good-looking, fine-looking, attractive, fair, comely:
He's handsome enough to be a movie star. 2 generous, sizeable,
large, big, substantial, considerable, good, goodly, ample,
abundant: She has made a handsome profit on the painting.


handy adj. 1 nearby, accessible, available, at or on or to hand,
close (by), convenient, at one's fingertips, within (easy)
reach, (at the) ready: Because of the recent break-ins, she
keeps a pistol handy. 2 usable, serviceable, manoeuvrable,

clever, useful, helpful, practical: A pair of pliers and a
screwdriver are the handiest tools. 3 deft, clever, dexterous,
adroit, adept, skilled, skilful, proficient, expert: Aunt Sara
is very handy with a needle and thread.


hang v. 1 suspend, depend, dangle; be poised or suspended, hover,
swing: Hang the lantern from this branch. The laundry was
hanging on the line. 2 gibbet, send to the gallows, lynch,
execute, kill, Colloq string up, stretch: They hanged two
murderers this morning. 3 drape, fall: The skirt isn't hanging
straight. 4 hang about or around. a loiter, wait, linger,
dally, idle, tarry , Colloq hang out: He hangs about after
school every day, waiting for Susan. b Also, hang about or
around (with). frequent, haunt, visit, spend time at; associate
with, socialize with, hobnob with, rub elbows with, consort
with, fraternize with, mix or mingle with, Colloq hang out
(with): He hangs about the Golden Crown. I saw him hanging
around with some pretty unsavoury characters. 5 hang back
(from). be reluctant, recoil (from), shrink (from), hesitate,
falter, stay away (from): Move to the front of the queue and
don't hang back. 6 hang fire. be delayed, remain unsettled or
unfinished, be in suspense or abeyance; stall, hold up, delay:
The decision will hang fire till after the election. 7 hang on.
a Also, hang on to. hold on (to), cling (to), clutch, grip,
grasp, grab: Hang on to me when we're crossing the street. b
wait, stay, stop: Hang on a minute - what did you call me? c
wait, persist, remain, carry on, persevere, go on, hold out,
endure, hold the phone, Colloq US hang in there: Hang on a
minute, I have to put down the phone to get a pencil. d Also,
hang on to or upon. listen carefully or attentively, give one's
undivided attention, be rapt: She hung on every word the guru
uttered. e depend or rely (on), be dependent or contingent
(on), be subject (to), be conditioned or conditional (on): The
entire project now hangs on their approval of the budget. 8
hang one's head. be ashamed or humiliated or abashed or humbled
or embarrassed: She hung her head as the store detective
confronted her with the stolen goods. 9 hang out. See 5 (a),
above. 10 hang over. be put off or postponed or delayed: We
must first deal with matters hanging over from our last meeting.
11 hang together. a unite, be united, be as one, stick
together, join forces, cooperate, act in concert or harmony: We
must hang together or we shall hang separately. b make sense,
be logical, be consistent, correspond, match (up), cohere, be

coherent: The statements issued yesterday and today just don't
hang together. 12 hang up. break the connection, disconnect,
cut off, put down the receiver: Whenever a salesman phones, I
simply hang up.


hanger-on n. follower, dependant, leech, parasite, toady, sycophant,
yes-man, Colloq scrounger, US freeloader, Slang groupie, sponger
or sponge: The rock star came in, surrounded by his hangers-on.


hangman n. executioner, Archaic Brit Jack Ketch: The hangman, a black
hood concealing his identity, slipped the noose over the
prisoner's head.

hanker v. Usually, hanker after or for. yearn for, long for, thirst
after or for, hunger after or for, itch for, pine for, lust
after or for, covet, crave, have a hankering for, want, desire,
fancy, Colloq have a yen for: She hankered after a big box of
chocolates.


hanky-panky
n. mischief, trickery, double-dealing, legerdemain, deception,
duplicity, chicanery, naughtiness, foolishness, tomfoolery,
Colloq funny business, jiggery-pokery, monkey business,
shenanigans, goings-on, antics: He'd best not try any of his
hanky-panky with the tax inspector.

haphazard adj. 1 random, arbitrary, chance, fortuitous, aleatory,
accidental, unforeseen, unlooked-for, unexpected, adventitious,
serendipitous: Her fate was to be decided by a haphazard throw
of the dice. 2 casual, offhand, hit-or-miss, unsystematic,
slapdash, slipshod, careless, disorganized, disorderly: He took
some haphazard shots at the target.

happen v. 1 occur, take place, come about, go on, come to pass,
develop; betide, chance, prove, materialize, Colloq transpire,
come off, Slang cook: What is happening? As it happens,
everyone has already left. 2 befall, become of: What will
happen to me if I refuse? 3 happen on or upon. come upon,
chance or hit on or upon, stumble on or upon, find, turn up,
encounter, meet with: It was then that I happened on an old
letter of his.

happening n. event, incident, occurrence, occasion, taking place,

circumstance, chance, episode, phenomenon: Such a conjunction
of the planets is a very rare happening.

happily adv. 1 fortunately, luckily, propitiously, providentially,
opportunely: Happily, she made a full recovery and was soon
back at work. 2 joyfully, joyously, delightedly, gleefully,
cheerily, cheerfully, gaily, merrily, blithely;
enthusiastically, heartily: She waved happily as they drove
off. 3 gladly, with pleasure, agreeably, contentedly,
willingly, peaceably: And they both lived happily ever after.

happiness n. pleasure, delight, felicity, enjoyment, joy, joyousness,
joyfulness, jubilation, cheerfulness, cheeriness, cheer,
blithesomeness, gladness, light-heartedness, exhilaration,
elation, exuberance, high spirits, glee, ecstasy: My happiness
at seeing you again was unbounded.

happy adj. 1 pleased, delighted, glad, joyous, joyful, overjoyed,
jubilant, cheerful, cheery, blithe, blithesome, glad,
light-hearted, contented, exhilarated, exultant, cock-a-hoop,
elated, exuberant, thrilled, gleeful, euphoric, ecstatic,
satisfied, gratified, Colloq on top of the world, on cloud nine,
pleased as Punch, tickled pink, Brit in the seventh heaven, over
the moon, US in seventh heaven: Her parents were happy that
Georgina was married at last. 2 lucky, fortuitous, propitious,
fortunate, auspicious, advantageous, beneficial, favourable,
felicitous, opportune, timely, well-timed, apt, appropriate: By
a happy chance, we were in Bermuda at the same time.


harangue n. 1 diatribe, tirade, oration, peroration, declamation,
philippic, screed, exhortation, vituperation, rodomontade,
speech, address, Colloq spiel: This morning he delivered a
ten-minute harangue on the weakness of the coffee.


--v. 2 declaim, hold forth, preach, lecture, sermonize,
pontificate, vituperate, rant and rave: Our neighbour is always
haranguing her husband about trimming the hedges.

harass v. badger, harry, hector, trouble, torment, bother, exasperate,
hound, plague, persecute, vex, annoy, irritate, pester, worry,
beset, bait, nag, pick on or at, tease, torture, Brit chivvvy or
chivy or chevy: The police harass me by turning up at all hours
for 'help with their inquiries'.


harbinger n. forerunner, herald, precursor, omen, foretoken, sign,
portent, augury: The crowing cock is the harbinger of dawn.


harbour n. 1 port, (safe) haven, anchorage, mooring: We sailed into
the harbour just as the storm broke.

--v. 2 shelter, keep safe, protect, shield, guard, safeguard,
conceal, hide: They were found guilty of harbouring a known
fugitive. 3 cherish, foster, nurture, nurse, keep, retain,
maintain, hold, cling to: She harbours a grudge against whoever
set the fire.

hard adj. 1 rigid, stiff, solid, inflexible, firm, dense, condensed,
compressed, close, solidified, hardened; stony, rocklike,
concrete, petrified, granite(-like), flinty, steely; tough,
rugged, leathery, callous; unyielding, adamant(ine),
impenetrable, obdurate, impervious, impregnable: The cement
gets hard in an hour. This steak is as hard as shoe-leather.
The metal was so hard that I broke three drills trying to make a
hole in it. 2 difficult, laborious, arduous, back-breaking,
burdensome, onerous, fatiguing, tiring, exhausting, wearying,
strenuous, tough, toilsome: Laying track for the railway is a
very hard job. 3 difficult, perplexing, knotty, puzzling,
baffling, enigmatic, intricate, complicated, complex, tangled,
involved, thorny, incomprehensible, inscrutable, unsolvable,
insoluble, Colloq tough: There were a lot of hard questions in
the exam. 4 stern, cold, callous, intractable, exacting,
strict, demanding, hard-hearted, stony-hearted, severe,
tyrannical, despotic, dictatorial, magisterial, oppressive,
cruel, ruthless, pitiless, merciless, savage, brutal, brutish,
inhuman, heartless, harsh, unkind, implacable, unsympathetic,
dispassionate, uncompassionate, unfeeling, obdurate, indurate;
unsentimental, insensitive, thick-skinned, tough, hard-boiled,
stony, hardbitten, unfeeling, unsparing: Hemel is a hard
taskmaster. Of the prison warders, each was harder than the
next. He advocates taking a hard line against white-collar
crime. 5 bad, difficult, grievous, calamitous, racking,
disastrous, dark, grim, distressing, devastating, agonizing,
painful, unpleasant, severe, austere, Colloq tough, rough: The
years of the Great Depression were hard for everyone. 6 cool,
unemotional, calculating, uncompromising, methodical, critical,
systematic, practical, pragmatic, businesslike, realistic,

penetrating, searching, hard-headed, Colloq tough, hard-nosed:
Shareholders should take a hard look at the annual report.
Chapelle drives a hard bargain. 7 sedulous, assiduous, devoted,
conscientious, industrious, indefatigable, untiring, persistent,
dogged, intent, eager, zealous, ardent, energetic, keen, avid:
Galpin is a very hard worker who gets a lot done. 8 cold, bare,
plain, straight, straightforward, blunt, unvarnished,
unquestionable, verifiable, real, indisputable, undeniable,
incontestable, incontrovertible, strict, inescapable,
ineluctable, unavoidable, unalterable, immutable: The hard fact
is that the bill has never been paid. 9 angry, bitter,
acrimonious, hostile, antagonistic, harsh, unpleasant,
unfriendly: I'm afraid there were some hard words between us.
10 spirituous, alcoholic, strong: She won't touch hard liquor.
11 addictive, habit-forming: He later changed from marijuana to
hard drugs. 12 sharp, well-defined, clear, distinct, stark,
definite: Note the hard edges of objects in Realist paintings.

--adv. 13 vigorously, forcefully, forcibly, energetically,
mightily, arduously, laboriously, strenuously, earnestly,
actively, dynamically, eagerly, intensely, ardently, heartily,
zealously, intently, spiritedly, diligently, assiduously,
sedulously, studiously, determinedly, steadfastly,
conscientiously, industriously, devotedly, urgently,
persistently, untiringly, indefatigably, perseveringly,
unfalteringly, relentlessly, doggedly: They always had to work
very hard just to scrape by. He's hard at work writing his new
book. 14 violently, deeply, intensely, badly, distressingly,
painfully, severely, agonizingly: Failing the examination hit
him quite hard. 15 intently, carefully, earnestly: The judge
thought long and hard before passing sentence. 16 harshly,
severely, badly, ill: It's going to go hard with her if she
doesn't change her ways. 17 hard up. poor, indigent,
poverty-stricken, impoverished, penniless, impecunious,
bankrupt, Colloq in the red, broke, bust(ed), on one's uppers,
Slang Brit skint: He's so hard up he can't afford a decent
meal.

harden v. 1 set, solidify, stiffen, freeze: The concrete will harden
overnight. 2 intensify, strengthen, brace, fortify, toughen,
reinforce, stiffen: The opposition have hardened their stand
against privatization.

hardly adv. scarcely, barely, only, just, only just; not quite, by no
means; seldom, rarely: I hardly knew her. There was hardly
enough to eat. He hardly ever visits his old mum any more.


hardship n. want, privation, deprivation, suffering, misery, distress,
affliction, adversity, austerity, misfortune, unhappiness, ill
fortune, bad luck, difficulty, trouble: The hardship of
frontier life has never been fully described.


hardware n. 1 tools, metal goods, Brit ironmongery: Go down to the
hardware shop for some nails. 2 (computer) equipment,
components, devices, machinery; arms, munitions, armament(s),
mat‚riel: We need the personnel to operate the hardware.


hardy adj. 1 robust, sturdy, strong, rugged, tough, durable, sound,
stalwart, stout, vigorous, able-bodied, red-blooded, fit, hale,
healthy, Colloq husky: The pioneers were hardy souls. 2 bold,
courageous, daring, valorous, valiant, brave, manly, intrepid,
fearless, heroic, plucky: He was among the hardy sailors who
went with Magellan.

hare-brained
adj. 1 rash, foolhardy, wild, madcap, reckless, heedless,
improvident, visionary, fanciful, airy, Colloq crackpot: Don't
put money into any of Zenobia's hare-brained schemes. 2
foolish, silly, inane, asinine, flighty, witless, brainless,
mindless, giddy, frivolous, scatterbrained: Such hare-brained
behaviour is not expected in two sober adults.


harm n. 1 injury, damage, mischief, hurt, abuse, misfortune: A
bodyguard was hired to see that no harm would come to her. 2
evil, wrongdoing, wickedness, iniquity, wrong, badness: I meant
no harm when I told Phoebe that her husband was having dinner
with Kathy.


--v. 3 hurt, damage, injure, abuse, maltreat, wound: She
insists that her pet viper would never harm her.

harmful adj. dangerous, pernicious, deleterious, destructive, damaging,
bad, detrimental, injurious; unhealthy, noxious, baleful, toxic,
poisonous, venomous, Archaic baneful: Do you really think that
Barbara has had a harmful influence on him? That substance can
be harmful if swallowed.


harmless adj. benign, innocuous, inoffensive, gentle, mild, innocent,
safe; non-toxic, non-poisonous, non-venomous: Pay no attention
to such harmless gossip. It is impossible to identify harmless
snakes by sight.

harmonious
adj. agreeable, compatible, congruous, consonant, in accord,
congenial, complementary, sympathetic, concordant, Colloq
simpatico: Our careers have always been harmonious.

harmony n. 1 agreement, accord, concord, compatibility, rapport,
unanimity, unity: The purpose is to promote harmony among the
warring factions. 2 consonance, congruity, balance,
orderliness, closeness, togetherness, consistency, fitness,
parallelism: A sense of harmony can be felt among the European
nations. 3 melodiousness, euphony, tunefulness: Their voices
are in perfect harmony.


harrowing adj. distressing, vexing, alarming, unnerving, frightening,
terrifying, horrifying, horrible, torturous, chilling,
heart-rending, nerve-racking or nerve-wracking, traumatic,
agonizing, painful; disturbing, upsetting, worrying, worrisome,
disconcerting, daunting, dismaying, disquieting: Waiting for
the rescue team to release me was a harrowing experience.

harsh adj. 1 rough, coarse, bristly, scratchy, hairy, crude; hoarse,
grating, raucous, rasping, husky, guttural; clashing,
inharmonious or unharmonious, discordant, atonal, dissonant,
cacophonous, strident, shrill, grinding, sour; bitter, sour,
acrid: He found harsh the sights, sounds, tastes, and smells of
the Casbah. 2 stern, austere, bleak, dour, unkind, unfeeling,
comfortless, uncompassionate, unfriendly, grim, hard, Spartan,
stringent, over-exacting, Draconian, tyrannical, stark, severe,
cruel, abusive, punishing, punitive, brutal, brutish, inhuman,
merciless, ruthless, pitiless: Simon is a very harsh
taskmaster. 3 unpleasant, disagreeable, impolite, discourteous,
uncivil, rude, nasty, curt, abrupt, brusque, bluff, gruff,
curmudgeonly, choleric, splenetic, surly, sullen, irascible,
short-tempered, petulant, peevish, waspish, grouchy, bilious,
cross, acrimonious, sarcastic, acerbic: Why is Maria so harsh
to Alan?

harvest n. 1 crop, yield, produce, output, fruit; vintage: If we get
enough rain, the harvest should be good this year.

--v. 2 reap, gather, pick, glean, collect: The oranges are
harvested while they are still greenish. 3 earn, make, take in,
collect, garner, get, receive, obtain, procure, net: They
harvest huge profits from slot machines.

hash n. 1 mixture, confusion, hotchpotch or US and Canadian
hodgepodge, pot-pourri, gallimaufry, farrago, mishmash, jumble,
mess, shambles, olla podrida, m‚lange, medley: The building is
a hash of a dozen architectural styles. 2 fiasco, disaster,
botch, mess, Slang Brit balls-up, US snafu: The council really
made a hash of its housing policy.


--v. 3 Often, hash up. mangle, mess or mix up, make a hash or
mess or jumble of, muddle, bungle, botch, mishandle, mismanage,
ruin, spoil, butcher, Colloq foul or louse up, screw up, muff,
Brit bugger up: Our plans for a holiday have been all hashed
up.

haste n. 1 swiftness, rapidity, quickness, speed, velocity,
expedition, urgency, dispatch or despatch, alacrity, celerity,
briskness: We must return to Baker Street with all haste,
Watson. 2 hurry, rush, rashness, hastiness, hustle, bustle,
impetuousness or impetuosity, recklessness, precipitancy: Haste
makes waste.

hasten v. 1 hurry, rush, make haste, fly, run, sprint, race, bolt,
dash, scurry, scamper, scuttle, speed: He hastened forward to
greet her. 2 hurry (up), speed (up), dispatch or despatch,
send, move, quicken, accelerate, expedite, rush, impel, urge:
Is there any way to hasten delivery of the mail?


hastily adv. 1 quickly, speedily, swiftly, rapidly, at once,
immediately, instantaneously, promptly, without delay, right
away, straight away, post-haste, hurriedly, directly, suddenly,
in haste, precipitately, on the spur of the moment, in a flash
or wink, before you can say 'Jack Robinson', Colloq pronto, like
a shot, like greased lightning, US lickety-split, Slang p.d.q.
(= 'pretty damned quick'): She left hastily when I asked for
the return of the loan. 2 impetuously, impulsively, rashly,
recklessly, unthinkingly, thoughtlessly, heedlessly,

incautiously: This is a trick question, so don't answer
hastily.

hasty adj. 1 quick, speedy, swift, rapid, fast, brisk, prompt,
immediate, instantaneous: He made a hasty departure so as not
to be late. 2 careless, rash, precipitate, impetuous,
impulsive, reckless, thoughtless, unthinking, incautious,
heedless, ill-considered, inconsiderate: His was a hasty
decision. 3 quick, speedy, cursory, superficial, fleeting,
passing, slapdash, perfunctory, momentary, brief: I had a hasty
look at the contract, which seemed all right. 4 irritable,
quick-tempered, irascible, testy, passionate, impatient,
hot-tempered, petulant, waspish, volatile, contentious,
choleric, splenetic, bearish, short-tempered, US and Canadian
and Irish cranky: Grandfather needn't have been so hasty with
the poor child.

hatch v. 1 breed, brood, incubate, bring forth: The normal clutch of
three eggs is hatched in a fortnight. 2 devise, contrive,
concoct, design, formulate, originate, invent, dream up, Colloq
cook up: Two of them hatched a scheme to discredit me.

hate v. 1 loathe, abhor, detest, have an aversion to, be averse to,
abominate, dislike, execrate, despise, scorn: I hate the smell
of petrol, it really turns my stomach. 2 be loath, be reluctant
or unwilling or disinclined; resist, shrink or flinch from,
dislike, shrink from: I hate to tell you what I really think.
She hated revealing Bill's affair to his wife.


--n. 3 hatred, abhorrence, loathing, odium, animosity, animus,
antipathy, aversion, hostility, antagonism, malice, enmity,
detestation: He didn't believe he could feel so much hate for
one person.


hateful adj. 1 loathsome, detestable, abhorrent, horrid, horrible,
abominable, odious, execrable, despicable, scurvy, obnoxious,
heinous, foul, contemptible, repugnant, repulsive, repellent,
revolting, vile: No vice is universally so hateful as
ingratitude. 2 malignant, malefic, malevolent, malicious, evil,
mean, spiteful, contemptuous: She gave me a hateful glance.

haughty adj. arrogant, proud, superior, self-important, smug,
self-satisfied, complacent, pretentious, conceited, egotistical,

snobbish, overbearing, lofty, presumptuous, overweening,
patronizing, supercilious, vain, condescending, contemptuous,
belittling, derisive, disdainful, scornful, Colloq highfalutin
or hifalutin, hoity-toity, stuck-up, swell-headed or
swelled-headed or swollen-headed, high and mighty, on (his or
her) high horse, snooty, la-di-da or lah-di-dah or la-de-da,
Slang snotty, uppish, uppity: She's too haughty to have made
any friends here.


haul v. 1 drag, pull, tug, tow, trail, lug, heave, draw: Are you
sure that one horse can haul that load? 2 cart, transport,
carry, convey, truck, move: The new vehicles are equipped to
haul bulk dry goods.


--n. 3 pull, tug, drag, draw; heave; attraction: The tides are
greater under the haul of both sun and moon. 4 catch, take,
yield, harvest, bag: We returned with quite a good haul of cod.

haunt v. 1 visit, frequent, hang about or around, spend time at, US
habituate: She haunts the yacht club, waiting for her ship to
come in. 2 beset, obsess, plague, torment, trouble, possess,
prey on: He is haunted by the fear that she told the police
everything.


--n. 3 gathering-place, meeting-place, stamping-ground, Colloq
hang-out: She returned to Abergavenny to visit the haunts of
her youth.

have v. 1 possess, own, keep; maintain: Imelda had more shoes than
you could count. 2 receive, take, accept, get, obtain, acquire,
procure, secure, take: How many gifts did you say she had from
him? 3 entertain, be struck by: I have an idea! 4 possess,
bear, contain, include, comprise: The night has a thousand
eyes. 5 suffer with or from, be suffering with or from, be
experiencing, be undergoing, be enduring, be subjected to: My
daughter was really ill when she had measles. 6 arrange,
organize, set up, prepare; hold: If I have a party, will you
come? We shall have our next meeting on Saturday. 7 partake of,
participate in, experience, enjoy; eat; drink: I hope you have
a good time. 8 give birth to, bear, deliver, bring into the
world; beget, sire, father: She had three children in as many
years. How many children has he had? 9 make, demand; force,
oblige, cause, induce, press, require, compel: We'll have the

caterers come at noon. 10 had better or best. ought to, must,
should: I had better not drink as I'm driving. 11 had rather
or sooner. prefer to, would rather or sooner: I'd rather be
with you. 12 have on. a be wearing, be dressed or clothed or
attired in: I'll have on the silk nightgown you like so much.
b be committed to, have planned, have in the offing, have on the
agenda: I have something on next Tuesday evening. c trick,
tease, deceive, pull (someone's) leg, play a joke on, fool: Do
you really love me or are you having me on?


havoc n. 1 ruin, devastation, destruction, desolation, rack or wrack
and ruin, despoliation, spoliation, damage: Gales of more than
80 m.p.h. wreaked havoc right across the British Isles. 2
confusion, chaos, upset, disorder, mayhem, shambles, disruption:
The railway slow-down created havoc with commuter schedules.

hazard n. 1 peril, danger, risk, endangerment, threat, jeopardy: The
greatest hazard in sailing single-handed round the world is the
loneliness. 2 chance, gamble, uncertainty, luck, fortune: They
banned all games that depended on hazard.

--v. 3 venture, dare; gamble, risk, jeopardize, endanger,
threaten, imperil, stake: May I hazard a guess as to the origin
of the word? He hazarded his entire fortune on the turn of a
card.

hazardous adj. unsafe, risky, fraught with danger, questionable, shaky,
dangerous, precarious, uncertain, unpredictable, parlous,
ticklish, tricky, Colloq chiefly Brit dicey, dicky or dickey,
Slang hairy: It took three months to make the hazardous
overland journey in those days.

hazy adj. 1 misty, foggy, smoggy, cloudy, overcast: It was so hazy
that we couldn't see the town a mile away. 2 indistinct,
blurred, blurry, dull, dim, faint, nebulous, vague, unclear,
fuzzy, indefinite, muddled: He has only a hazy idea of the
plot.

8.2 head...
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-



head n. 1 skull, pate, cranium, Colloq dome, Slang coco(nut),

belfry, noggin, bean, nut, rocker, noodle, gourd, Brit conk,
crumpet, noddle, loaf: She laid her head on the pillow and fell
sound asleep. 2 chief, leader, administrator, chief executive
officer, CEO, (managing) director, MD, president, chairman,
chairwoman, chairlady, chairperson, chair, employer, principal,
superintendent, supervisor, governor, prime minister,
headmaster, headmistress, Colloq boss, headman, the man, Brit
guv'nor, guv, US (chief) honcho; Slang big cheese, US Mr Big:
The new head has called a meeting of the board of directors. 3
front, vanguard, forefront, van, fore-part: At the head of the
column marched the general himself. 4 aptitude, intellect,
intelligence, talent, perception, perceptiveness, mentality,
faculty, flair, genius, brain, mind, wit, Colloq brains, grey
matter: I have no head for figures. 5 crisis, apex, (critical
or turning) point, peak, crest, (fever) pitch, climax,
culmination, conclusion, crescendo: Matters have been brought
to a head because of the coming elections. 6 source, origin,
fount, font, fountain-head, well-spring: We were trying to
reach the head of the stream before nightfall. 7 top, first
place, leading position, leadership, forefront: Albert is at
the head of his class in mathematics. 8 head over heels.
completely, entirely, deeply, utterly, wholly, fully, Colloq
madly, wildly: The two of them are head over heels in love.


--adj. 9 first, chief, main, principal, leading, premier,
foremost, prime, pre-eminent, cardinal, paramount, supreme,
superior, senior: Alphonse is our new head chef.

--v. 10 go, move, proceed, turn, steer, aim, point, head for,
make a beeline for: I shall head home when I leave here. 11
head up, be in or take charge (of), direct, supervise, oversee,
control, govern, run, (take the) lead, guide, manage, command,
rule, administer, conduct: Who will head the organization if
you resign? 12 lead, precede, top: Charlotte heads the list of
candidates. 13 head off. a intercept, divert; cut off, stop,
block: The cavalry will head them off at the pass. b stop,
forestall, prevent, inhibit, avert, ward or fend off: What can
we do to head off inflation?


headache n. 1 migraine, Technical cephalalgia: Hazel says she has a
headache and cannot come to work today. 2 worry, bother,
vexation, inconvenience, nuisance, annoyance, problem,
difficulty, trouble, bane, Colloq pain (in the neck), Slang pain

in the Brit arse or US ass: The balance of payments deficit is
a perpetual headache.

headway n. 1 progress, forward motion, improvement: Headway against
that current was almost impossible. Any headway to report? 2
make headway. advance, progress, move forward, go, gain
(ground), get or go ahead, proceed, get going: I tried to
persuade her but haven't made much headway.


heal v. 1 cure, repair, renew, revitalize, rejuvenate, restore;
mend, recuperate, recover, improve: The wounds have healed. The
ointment healed his wounds. I heal quickly. 2 reconcile, settle,
patch up, put or set straight or right, remedy, repair, mend:
His only wish was to heal the rift with his brother.


health n. 1 condition, fitness, trim, fettle, form, constitution: My
health has improved enough for me to return to work. 2
healthiness, haleness, healthfulness, robustness, vigour,
vigorousness, salubrity, salubriousness, well-being, strength:
The health of the economy is good.

healthy adj. 1 well, fit, trim, in good or fine fettle or shape, in
good health, robust, hale (and hearty), sturdy, strong,
vigorous, thriving, flourishing, Colloq in the pink: How come
he is so healthy if he smokes? 2 wholesome, healthful,
salubrious, salutary, beneficial, nourishing, nutritious, tonic,
bracing: The answer lies in eating healthy food and living in a
healthy climate.


heap n. 1 collection, pile, mound, stack, accumulation, aggregation,
agglomeration, congeries, conglomeration, hoard, mass, store,
mountain, stockpile, supply, Colloq US and Canadian stash:
Donors contributed a huge heap of clothing for the sale. 2
Often, heaps. abundance, plethora, superabundance, lot(s),
plenty, great deal, scores, peck, sea, Colloq lashings, load(s),
piles, ton(s), raft(s), pots, oodles, scad(s), US and Canadian
slew: It was served with heaps of chocolate sauce. Heaps of
people bought your record. You're in for a heap of trouble.


--v. 3 collect, gather, harvest, reap, glean, garner, pile
(up), accumulate, cumulate, aggregate, amass, stockpile, save
(up), bank, lay by or up or in, set aside, Colloq stash (away):
In autumn, squirrels heap up their supplies of nuts for the

winter. 4 shower, load, bestow, give, provide, burden: The
grateful prince heaped us with treasure beyond imagination.

hear v. 1 perceive, understand, listen (to), attend (to), pay
attention (to), catch, heed, hark (to): Please hear what I have
to say first. 2 understand, learn, discover, find out, gather,
get wind of, pick up, ascertain, be told or advised or informed:
I hear you're thinking of resigning. 3 hear of. entertain,
consider; approve (of), sanction, condone, agree or consent or
assent to: I won't hear of your leaving.

heart n. 1 Colloq ticker, pump: The doctor says I have a dicky
heart. 2 stomach, nerve, courage, bravery, mettle, will,
boldness, pluck, resolution, determination; callousness,
insensitivity, heartlessness; Colloq guts, spunk: I haven't the
heart to tell him that his hamster died. 3 (basic) nature,
core, centre, focus, hub, middle, marrow, pith, essence,
quintessence, nucleus, nub, crux, basics, fundamentals, Colloq
nitty-gritty: Let's get down to the heart of the matter. 4
sincerity, sentiment(s), feeling(s), spirit, verve, enthusiasm:
She's going through the motions, but her heart isn't in her
work. 5 humanity, humanitarianism, sympathy, understanding,
kindness, kindliness, compassion, empathy, goodness,
consideration, concern, soul, tenderness, magnanimity,
generosity, sensitivity, sensibility, sentiment, pity,
(brotherly) love, affection: Mother Theresa is known for having
a lot of heart. Have you no heart, Genghis?

heartbroken
adj. broken-hearted, downhearted, dispirited, unhappy,
miserable, grief-stricken, upset, dejected, heartsick,
crestfallen, despondent, depressed, disconsolate, distressed,
woebegone, doleful, sorrowful, mournful, morose, disheartened,
disappointed, crushed: Lucy was heartbroken over the loss of
her locket.

heartfelt adj. sincere, honest, genuine, unfeigned, earnest, serious,
wholehearted, deep, profound, dedicated, devoted, ardent,
committed, fervent, fervid, hearty, passionate: It is my
heartfelt wish that you should succeed.

heartless adj. cruel, hard-hearted, callous, unconcerned, inhuman,
inhumane, unkind, unfeeling, unsympathetic, brutal, cold,

merciless, pitiless, ruthless, cold-blooded: Taking away the
child's toys was a heartless thing to do.

heart-rending
adj. agonizing, distressing, excruciating, bitter, painful,
heartbreaking, harrowing, piteous, tragic, depressing, poignant:
Her distress was heart-rending to behold.

heart-warming
adj. 1 moving, touching, warming, affecting, uplifting,
inspiriting, cheering, encouraging: I heard the heart-warming
news about Alan's recovery. 2 satisfying, gratifying, pleasing,
comforting, pleasurable, rewarding: It was heart-warming to see
the family together at Christmas.


hearty adj. 1 genial, warm, kind-hearted, affectionate, amiable,
amicable, friendly, affable, cordial, open, convivial: I was
greeted by a hearty welcome when I returned. 2 genuine,
unfeigned, authentic, sincere, heartfelt, warm, wholehearted,
honest, earnest, devout, stalwart, stout: Please give Desmond
my hearty congratulations. 3 enthusiastic, vigorous, energetic,
eager, zealous, exuberant, robust, active, animated, strong:
They are hearty supporters of our cause. 4 abundant, ample,
substantial, solid, sizeable, satisfying, square; nourishing,
invigorating, strengthening: On Sundays, we had a hearty meal
at midday when we could afford it. 5 healthy, hale, vigorous,
robust, strong, sound: Well, Eric, now that you're over your
malaria you appear to be quite hearty.


heat n. 1 warmth, warmness, hotness, fever, fieriness, torridity or
torridness: The heat of the sun feels good after that cold
swim. 2 passion, ardour, fervour, fervidness, intensity, fury,
zeal, zealousness, earnestness, vehemence, eagerness,
enthusiasm, excitement, tenseness, tension, stress, agitation,
arousal, impetuosity, stimulation, exhilaration: If I shouted
at you in the heat of the moment, I apologize.

--v. 3 warm (up): It costs a lot to heat this house. 4 Often,
heat up. excite, intensify, impassion, inflame, kindle, ignite,
quicken, inspirit, rouse, awaken or waken, stir, animate,
stimulate, warm (up), activate, Colloq Brit hot up: It took a
while for the debate to heat up.

heated adj. impassioned, excited, intensified, aroused, quickened,
stimulated, inflamed, vehement, fiery, frenzied, frantic,
frenetic, passionate, fervent, fervid, ardent, intense, furious,
stormy, tempestuous, violent; angry, bitter: There was a heated
dispute over animal rights, which finally led to blows.

heathen n. 1 unbeliever, infidel, pagan, idolater or idolatress,
polytheist, atheist, nullifidian, sceptic, agnostic, heretic:
One often finds more mercy in a heathen than in a brother
Christian.

--adj. 2 infidel, pagan, atheist(ic), godless, nullifidian,
sceptic(al), doubting, agnostic, heretical, irreligious: After
the missionaries left, the tribe returned to their heathen
practices. 3 savage, barbarian, barbaric, uncivilized,
primitive, unenlightened, uncultured, Philistine; polytheistic,
pantheistic: Each of these tribesmen carries with him a tiny
sculptured image of the heathen god.


heave v. 1 raise, lift, hoist, haul, pull, draw, tug; move: We
heaved in the anchor and made sail. 2 throw, toss, hurl, fling,
cast, sling, pitch, let fly, send, launch, Colloq peg, chuck:
When he heaved the sword into the lake a hand rose from the
waters and caught it. 3 breathe, utter, sigh, groan, moan, gasp:
We heaved a sigh of relief when we heard that they had been
found. 4 gag, retch, vomit, be sick, regurgitate, disgorge,
Colloq throw up, Slang puke, lose one's lunch, return one's
dinner, US upchuck, spiff one's biscuits: The smell of petrol
always makes me heave.


heaven n. 1 paradise, bliss, hereafter, nirvana, Abraham's bosom,
Elysian Fields or Elysium, Valhalla, Zion, happy
hunting-grounds, Avalon, Isles of the Blessed, the Blessed or
Fortunate or Happy Isles or Islands: Will I go to heaven when I
die? 2 heavens. sky, skies, firmament, Literary welkin,
empyrean: The heavens opened and the rain started to pour down.
3 happiness, bliss, joy, rapture, ecstasy, paradise,
contentment, seventh heaven, Eden, Garden of Eden, Utopia,
heaven on earth, paradise on earth: Darby said that his years
with Joan had been sheer heaven.

heavenly adj. 1 divine, angelic, seraphic, celestial, holy, immortal,
blessed, beatific, beatified, spiritual, saintly; supernal,

unearthly, other-worldly, ultramundane, extramundane,
extraterrestrial: Alone on the mountain, she heard a heavenly
voice calling her name. 2 delightful, wonderful, marvellous,
sublime, paradisiac(al) or paradisaic(al), glorious, splendid,
superb, exquisite, perfect, ideal, excellent, fantastic,
rapturous, entrancing, blissful, Colloq gorgeous, divine,
smashing, great: Andr‚'s serves a perfectly heavenly lobster
thermidor.


heavy adj. 1 weighty, ponderous, massive, Literary massy; compact,
dense: This box is much too heavy for me to lift. 2 abundant,
overflowing, excessive, copious, profuse, prodigious, ample,
unmanageable: We just crawled along in the heavy traffic. 3
serious, grave, important, crucial, critical, acute: You always
bring up heavy topics at the end of the meeting. 4 burdensome,
onerous, oppressive, weighty, unbearable, severe, grievous,
distressful, sore, intolerable, insupportable or unsupportable,
awful: Teenagers often feel that they are weighed down with
heavy responsibilities. 5 sad, sorrowful, distressing,
grievous, upsetting, depressing, gloomy, sombre, melancholy:
Some heavy news has been received from the front. 6 unhappy,
miserable, depressed, melancholy, grieving, sad, dejected,
downhearted, disconsolate, downcast, despondent, gloomy,
heavy-hearted, morose, crestfallen, cheerless: Heavy at heart,
he returned to his cheerless home. 7 ponderous, tedious,
monotonous, boring, uninteresting, leaden, dull, prosaic, dry,
dry-as-dust, stodgy, staid, stuffy, stifling, stultifying: The
critics found the style much too heavy for the subject being
treated. 8 thick, coarse, broad, blunt, clumsy, ungraceful:
These heavy brush-strokes prove that the painting is not a
Turner. 9 gloomy, cloudy, overcast, bleak, dismal, dreary,
leaden, grey, dark, louring or lowering, threatening: it was
another of Scotland's heavy February days. 10 intense,
concentrated, severe, forceful, violent, torrential: The
snowfall was the heaviest of the year. 11 overweight, fat,
obese, stout, chubby, plump, corpulent, portly, paunchy, tubby,
Brit podgy or US pudgy, Colloq beer-bellied: The doctor did not
say I was too heavy, only that I ought to be six inches taller.
12 weighty, difficult, complex, recondite, arcane, deep,
profound, esoteric, incomprehensible, impenetrable,
unfathomable: He specializes in some heavy subject like
micro-palaeontology. 13 burdened, laden, encumbered, loaded,
overloaded, weighed down: We spied two Indiamen, heavy with

cargoes of spices, sailing towards us.

heavy-handed
adj. 1 awkward, clumsy, inept, maladroit, unskilful,
ungraceful, graceless, bungling: She made a heavy-handed
attempt to apologize. 2 autocratic, imperious, magisterial,
overbearing, despotic, dictatorial, tyrannical, oppressive,
domineering, iron-handed, harsh, severe: For more than 30 years
he exercised heavy-handed control over the country.


heckle v. badger, pester, annoy, irritate, bother, nettle, bait,
harass, harry, plague, hector, taunt, jeer, Colloq hassle, bug,
Brit and Australian and New Zealand barrack: One man kept
heckling the speaker with persistent interruptions.


hectic adj. feverish, excited, agitated, busy, bustling, rushed,
hyperactive, over-active, frenzied, frantic, chaotic, wild, mad,
frenetic, riotous: What with the new baby and everyone else
having the flu, I've had a pretty hectic week.


heed v. 1 pay attention to, attend, (take or make) note (of), listen
to, mark, consider, bear in mind; take, follow, obey, mind,
respect, accept, abide by: I wish I had heeded her suggestions
for redecorating the house. Heeding his advice, I joined the
army.

--n. 2 attention, notice, ear, mind, notice, respect,
consideration, thought: Let us give heed to the speaker's
admonitions.


heedless adj. inattentive, uncaring, unmindful, neglectful, unobservant,
regardless; oblivious, deaf, blind: Heedless of tradition, they
replaced the older buildings with council housing.


heelฐ n. 1 end, butt or tail or fag (end), stump, remainder, remnant,
rind, crust: You can always freeze the heel of a loaf to use at
some later date for breadcrumbs. 2 cad, scoundrel, swine, rogue,
scamp, philanderer, Old-fashioned worm, knave, Chiefly Brit
blackguard, Colloq Brit rotter, Old-fashioned bounder, Slang
bastard, Brit sod: He's an absolute heel - he got her pregnant
and then left her. 3 down at heel. US also down at the heels;
poor, destitute, impoverished, down and out, on (one's) uppers,
in straitened circumstances; shabby, seedy, dowdy, run-down,

slovenly, Brit out at elbows, US out at the elbows, Colloq
broke, strapped: Farrington looked down at heel, so I slipped
him a fiver. 4 take to (one's) heels. take flight, flee,
escape, run off or away, show a clean pair of heels, Colloq
split, Brit do a moonlight flit, US take a (run-out) powder, fly
the coop, Australian and New Zealand shoot through: When I
mentioned payment, she took to her heels.

--v. 5 dog, follow (closely), shadow, chase, pursue: We have
taught our puppy to heel.

heel v. list, lean (over), tilt, tip, incline: The boat heeled as
we turned to beat into the wind.


hefty adj. 1 big, large, bulky, cumbersome, awkward, unwieldy,
clumsy, substantial, massive: That's a pretty hefty box for one
person to carry. 2 brawny, strong, powerful, burly, muscular,
strapping, rugged, robust, Colloq husky, beefy: That hefty man
over there is the Olympic weight-lifting champion. 3
substantial, considerable, sizeable, impressive, enormous, huge,
Colloq thumping or Brit socking great: I've just received a
hefty increase in salary.

height n. 1 altitude, elevation, level; tallness: At what height is
the second camp on Mount Everest? The height of the skyscrapers
impressed me. 2 acme, crest, pinnacle, top, zenith, apogee,
peak, apex, maximum, high point, summit, climax, culmination,
extreme: Popularity of that style reached its height in the
1930s. His remark reflected the height of arrogance. 3 Often,
heights. elevation, mound, hill, eminence, prominence, mountain,
peak, crag, summit; tor, cliff, bluff, promontory, escarpment,
scarp, headland, No. Brit fell: As we gazed down from the
heights, the villages seemed tiny.


heighten v. 1 raise, elevate, build up, increase, lift (up), upraise: A
white ceiling gives the effect of heightening a room. 2
intensify, deepen, strengthen, reinforce, amplify, magnify,
increase, enhance, augment, add to, supplement: Adding some
blue heightens the effect. The bribery scandal has only
heightened distrust of the ruling party.

heir n. heiress, beneficiary, inheritor, legatee, successor: What
if you are not the rightful heir to the estate?


hell n. 1 Erebus, Hades, Acheron, Tartarus, Gehenna, Tophet,
Abaddon, Pandemonium, Dis, Sheol, Avernus, underworld, infernal
regions, abyss, abode of the damned, inferno, hell-fire, lower
world, nether regions, bottomless pit, other place: For his
sins he was condemned to everlasting hell. 2 chaos, misery,
torment, agony, torture, ordeal, nightmare, trial: The office
has been an absolute hell since you left. 3 anguish, pain,
agony, torment, torture, misery, suffering, affliction: We have
been through hell since Grenville's heart attack. 4 criticism,
censure; scolding, castigation, reprimand, upbraiding: My
mother gave me hell for getting home late.

helm n. 1 tiller, wheel, rudder, steering gear or apparatus: I had
to put the helm over hard to avoid hitting the pier. 2
directorship, presidency, chairmanship, leadership, control,
rule, command, Colloq driver's seat, saddle: Arthur remained at
the helm of the company for 40 years.


help v. 1 aid, assist, lend a hand, support, serve; succour: Let me
help you carry that package, Mrs Smith. His charitable efforts
have long helped the poor. 2 relieve, alleviate, mitigate,
improve, facilitate, ease, better, remedy, cure: Complaining
about it won't help the situation. 3 stop, refrain from, avoid,
eschew, resist, keep from, forbear, escape: I know it was a
secret but I couldn't help telling Sam. 4 assist, serve,
advise, inform: May I help you, sir? 5 help oneself.
appropriate, take, arrogate, commandeer, expropriate; steal,
purloin, usurp, plagiarize, pirate, Colloq pinch, lift, Brit
nick, US boost: She helped herself to some money from the till.

--n. 6 aid, support, succour, assistance: I need help in
solving this problem. 7 employee(s), worker(s), staff,
helper(s), hand(s), assistant(s), labourer(s), domestic(s),
servant(s), Brit daily (help): We have to hire more help to
finish on time. 8 supporter, aide, assistant, helper: You have
been a great help to me. 9 relief, remedy, cure, balm: This
ointment has been a great help in stopping the itching.


helpful adj. useful, serviceable, practical, pragmatic, utilitarian,
beneficial, valuable, profitable, advantageous, constructive,
productive; supportive, reassuring, sympathetic, considerate,
caring, accommodating, kind, considerate, cooperative,

neighbourly, friendly, benevolent: A reference book might be
helpful in answering that question. Mrs Carlyle gave me such
helpful advice.


helping n. serving, portion, ration, plateful, Brit help, Colloq
dollop: He has already asked for a third helping of potatoes.

helpless adj. 1 dependent, vulnerable, weak, helpless, feeble, infirm,
lame, crippled, disabled: The disease has left him completely
helpless. 2 confused, baffled, mystified, bewildered,
perplexed, at sea, confounded, muddled, nonplussed: I am
completely helpless when it comes to balancing my accounts. 3
weakened, weak, debilitated, faint, enfeebled, feeble, worn out,
spent, exhausted, prostrate, enervated: All of us were simply
helpless from laughing so much. 4 worthless, incapable,
incompetent, useless, unavailing, inefficient, inept, unfit,
unqualified: Dali was said to be helpless without Gala to
manage his affairs.


helter-skelter
adj. 1 disorderly, disorganized, confused, muddled, haphazard,
careless, jumbled, random, topsy-turvy, Colloq
higgledy-piggledy: How can one find anything in this
helter-skelter mess?


--adv. 2 confusedly, pell-mell, in all directions, recklessly,
unsystematically, chaotically, erratically, aimlessly, US every
which way, Colloq higgledy-piggledy: When the giant appeared,
the children ran away, helter-skelter.


hence adv. 1 therefore, consequently, thus, accordingly, ergo, as a
result, for that or this reason: She has homework to do, hence
cannot go to the cinema. 2 away, from here or this place: Get
thee hence, you wicked witch! 3 from now, in the future: Where
will I be two years hence?

henceforth
adv. hereafter, henceforward, from now on, Colloq US from here
on out: Henceforth, make no more personal remarks.


henchman n. (fellow-) mobster or gangster or hoodlum, gangster,
bodyguard, myrmidon, right-hand man, associate, attendant,
follower, supporter, confidant, crony, Colloq sidekick,

hooligan, Brit minder, US buddy, cohort; Slang heavy, US
torpedo, gunsel, goon: Mr Big strutted in with his henchmen and
wrecked the place.


henpeck v. nag, harass, hector, pester, torment, bully, carp, cavil:
She henpecked him so much that he finally left her.

herd n. 1 group, pack, bunch, cluster, flock, crowd, multitude,
host, horde, throng, mass, swarm, press, crush; assemblage,
collection: A herd of protesters gathered before the embassy.
2 common herd, rabble, hoi polloi, great unwashed, riff-raff,
masses: How can you expect the herd to understand these
principles?


--v. 3 gather, congregate, flock, assemble, collect: The
reporters herded round to interview the minister. 4 round up,
gather (together), shepherd, drive, W US and Canadian wrangle,
corral: Herd those cattle into the pen.


hereditary
adj. 1 heritable, inheritable, transmissible, transferable or
transferrable, inherited, genetic, congenital, inborn, innate;
atavistic: Green eyes and red hair are hereditary in our
family. 2 traditional, handed down, inherited, bequeathed,
willed; ancestral: Priesthood was hereditary among Aaron's
descendants. These are the hereditary lands that go with the
castle.

heretical adj. unorthodox, heterodox, impious, freethinking, heretic,
apostate or apostatical, iconoclastic, schismatic, sceptic,
agnostic, atheist(ic), idolatrous, heathen, pagan, infidel,
godless: The purpose of the Inquisition was to discover and
suppress heretical views.


heritage n. 1 estate, inheritance, legacy, patrimony, birthright: The
manor-house was included in the heritage that was passed on to
me. 2 tradition: The documentary examines our cultural
heritage.


hermetic adj. hermetical, airtight, sealed; impervious: If the hermetic
seal is broken, sterility is not guaranteed.

hermit n. recluse, eremite, anchorite or anchoret or anchoress,

solitary, stylite: He has retired from the world to become a
hermit.

hero n. 1 heroine, champion, exemplar, star, superstar, idol, ideal,
man of the hour, luminary, notable, celebrity; knight, paladin,
warrior: She was a hero to every aspiring woman lawyer. She
expects a hero in shining armour on a white horse to sweep her
off her feet. 2 protagonist, (male) lead or star, leading man or
actor, principal: G‚rard Depardieu plays the hero in this
lavishly produced film.

heroic adj. 1 brave, courageous, bold, valiant, valorous, undaunted,
dauntless, stout-hearted, noble, intrepid, gallant, chivalrous,
daring, plucky, audacious, fearless, manly, virile, manful: We
published a book about Aylesworthy's heroic exploits. 2 noble,
altruistic, magnanimous, generous, upstanding, honourable,
virtuous, staunch, steadfast, stalwart, determined: This plaque
commemorates Manzanilla's heroic work in curbing religious
persecution. 3 desperate, drastic, extreme: Despite heroic
efforts, it was impossible to rescue the entire crew. 4 grand,
larger than life, exaggerated, magniloquent, grandiose,
extravagant; giant, gigantic, enormous, huge, titanic, colossal,
stupendous: The heroic phrases of the demagogue still ring in
my ears. Statues of heroic proportions have been moved from Abu
Simbel. 5 mythological, epic, Homeric, legendary, classical,
fabulous, wonderful, miraculous: He enjoyed tales of heroic
demigods like Hercules. 6 majestic, lofty, elevated, grand,
august, towering, eminent, distinguished, prominent: The entire
court was silent as the heroic figure of the emperor entered.


heroine n. (female) lead, leading actress or lady, prima donna or
ballerina, premiŠre danseuse, diva: The heroine was played by
Mme Kropeczka.


hesitant adj. 1 hesitating, undecided, uncertain, unsettled, irresolute,
vacillating, shilly-shallying, dithering, fluctuating, wavering,
unresolved, ambivalent, in or of two minds, indefinite, Brit
havering: He was hesitant about whether to buy the blue or the
green model. 2 halting, stammering, stuttering, faltering:
From her hesitant speech I'd say she was nervous.

hesitate v. 1 delay, hold or hang back, pause, dilly-dally, wait,
temporize, think twice, balk, boggle at, shrink from, demur,

scruple, Brit haver, jib, Colloq stall: He who hesitates is
lost. 2 fumble, equivocate, tergiversate, fluctuate, alternate,
waver, dither, vacillate, shilly-shally: He hesitated between
the doors - did this one conceal the lady or the tiger? 3
stammer, stutter, falter, sputter, splutter, stumble, hem and
haw: She hesitated throughout the speech purely from stage
fright.

8.3 hidden
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hidden adj. concealed, secret, obscure(d), occult, veiled, cryptic,
recondite, arcane, covert, esoteric, unseen, private: Was this
an ordinary shopping list or did it have some hidden meaning?

hideฐ v. 1 conceal, secrete, cache, squirrel away; go underground,
take cover, lie low, go into hiding, lurk, go to ground, drop
out of sight, go into hiding, hibernate, latibulize, Colloq hide
out, hole up, lie low, Brit lie doggo: Hide the sweets where
the children won't find them. I found a place to hide under the
stair. 2 conceal, cover, mask, camouflage, disguise, veil,
shroud, screen, cover up, keep secret: He managed to hide his
embarrassment. 3 eclipse, blot out, obscure, block: The clouds
hid the moon as we made good our escape. 4 suppress, hush (up),
repress, silence, keep quiet or secret: She hid all knowledge
of the crime.

hide n. 1 pelt, skin, fell, leather, fur, fleece: Once tanned and
dyed, the hide was made into clothing.

--v. 2 flog, whip, lash, flail, beat, thrash: The masters took
great satisfaction in hiding the boys.


hideaway n. refuge, retreat, sanctuary, hide-out, hiding-place, lair,
(safe) haven, Colloq hole, Brit hidey-hole or hidy-hole: My
brother and I would crawl into our hideaway and pretend we were
being held prisoner by pirates.


hidebound adj. strait-laced, conventional, ultra-conventional,
conservative, reactionary, rigid, set (in one's ways),
narrow-minded, close-minded, inflexible, intractable,
uncompromising, restricted, cramped, bigoted, intolerant: She's

too much of a hidebound disciplinarian to rescind the
punishment.

hideous adj. 1 grotesque, ugly, repulsive, revolting, repellent,
monstrous, beastly, gorgonian, unsightly, ghastly, disgusting,
grisly, nauseating, nauseous, sickening, gruesome: Suddenly, a
hideous face appeared at the kitchen window. 2 foul, abhorrent,
heinous, horrifying, appalling, outrageous, abominable, vile,
shocking, loathsome, contemptible, hateful, odious, atrocious,
horrific, beastly, damnable, execrable: Two hideous crimes were
committed here last night.

high adj. 1 tall, lofty, elevated, towering: High mountains
surround the valley. 2 extreme, excessive, extraordinary,
exorbitant, outrageous, Colloq steep, stiff: Houses in that
district are fetching high prices. 3 costly, dear, expensive,
high-priced: Shares are not as high as they were before the
crash. 4 great, huge, enormous, considerable, strong; violent,
turbulent: These wires carry high voltages. The high winds blew
down trees. 5 exalted, elevated, lofty, superior, high-class:
With insider trading, theft became a high art in the financial
world. 6 consequential, important, grave, serious, weighty,
momentous, heinous; capital: His activities constitute high
treason. 7 high-pitched, high-frequency, squeaky, acute,
treble, soprano; shrill, strident, sharp, penetrating, piercing,
ear-splitting: The higher notes make my radio speaker vibrate.
She has an irritatingly high voice. 8 cheerful, exuberant,
elated, boisterous, exhilarated, hilarious, merry, excited: I
find his persistent high spirits rather depressing. 9 euphoric,
intoxicated, inebriated, drunk, drugged, Colloq loaded, tipsy,
turned on, on a trip, Slang stoned, spaced out, Brit squiffy, US
spacy, squiffed: They got high sniffing glue. 10 gamy,
tainted, aged, ripe, Slang Brit pongy: He likes to hang venison
till it is quite high. 11 chief, leading, important, principal,
foremost: He regards himself as the high priest of women's
fashion. 12 elaborate, luxurious, grand, extravagant, lavish,
rich, prodigal, sybaritic: With her millions she can now enjoy
the high life. 13 considerable, favourable, great: She is held
in high esteem by her colleagues.


--adv. 14 far up; great in extent: Daedalus warned Icarus not
to fly so high. I was willing to go as high as 20,000 for the
painting.


--n. 15 peak, record, height, maximum, acme, apex: Employment
is expected to reach a high next summer. 16 intoxication,
altered consciousness: The high lasts till the drug wears off.
17 anticyclone: The high passing over the country will bring
fair weather.

highbrow n. 1 scholar, intellectual, savant, sage, mastermind, genius;
aesthete, connoisseur, Colloq egghead, brain: Many who pretend
to deride highbrows secretly envy them.

--adj. 2 scholarly, intellectual, learned, erudite, deep,
bookish, cultured, sophisticated, cultivated, aesthetic, Colloq
brainy: Books on philosophy are too highbrow for the market we
cater to.

high-class
adj. 1 first-rate, superior, better, top-drawer, Colloq tops,
tiptop, A-one or A-1, super, great: He has had the benefit of a
high-class education. 2 aristocratic, upper-class, ‚lite,
select, exclusive; upper crust, fancy, Brit county, US and
Canadian tony, Slang classy: She says she comes from a
high-class family.


highly adv. 1 greatly, much, tremendously, well, enthusiastically,
warmly, immensely, hugely: Her play was highly praised by all
the critics. 2 very, extremely, quite, exceptionally,
extraordinarily, incomparably, decidedly: It is highly unlikely
that I shall come to your party. 3 favourably, well,
enthusiastically, approvingly, warmly, praisefully: They seem
to think highly of him at the office. 4 well, influentially,
powerfully, strongly, authoritatively, effectively, importantly:
I have the information from a highly placed government official.


hilarious adj. funny, side-splitting, humorous, comical, amusing,
entertaining, mirthful; merry, gay, jolly, jovial, cheerful,
cheery, joyous, joyful, rollicking, uproarious; Colloq
hysterical: Binky told me a hilarious story about his aunt's
pet boa constrictor. We had a hilarious time at your party.


hilarity n. laughter, gaiety, joviality, jollity, merriment, mirth,
exuberance, glee, boisterousness, cheerfulness, joyfulness,
jubilation, elation, revelry, conviviality, high spirits,

vivacity, exhilaration: Thurgood did not join in the hilarity
of his retirement party.

hill n. 1 elevation, rise, highland, mound, prominence, promontory,
eminence, knoll, hillock, hummock, height, foothill, tor, mount,
upland, downs or downland, Scots brae, No. Brit fell, W Brit
tump, US and Canadian butte: The house is on a hill overlooking
the valley. 2 heap, pile, mound, stack; mountain: By the
autumn, the hill of compost had reached six feet in height. 3
slope, incline or decline, acclivity or declivity, gradient or
esp. US grade, US upgrade or downgrade: Are you sure this car
can make it up the next hill?

hinder v. 1 hamper, delay, interrupt, impede, interfere with, foil,
thwart, frustrate, forestall, bar, stymie, check, balk or baulk,
encumber, obstruct, handicap, set or keep or put or hold back,
defer, retard, restrain, slow, postpone: The difficulty of the
task should not hinder the attempt. 2 stop, prevent, check,
preclude, arrest; discourage, deter, inhibit, obviate: Does the
threat of capital punishment hinder people from committing
murder?

hindrance n. 1 obstruction, impediment, snag, check, obstruction,
barrier, obstacle, restraint, drawback, hitch, stumbling-block,
deterrent, encumbrance: The only hindrance to the plan is
Phyllis's disapproval of it. 2 prevention, curb, limitation:
The presence of police cars serves as a hindrance to speeding
motorists.


hint n. 1 suggestion, clue, implication, inkling, indication, tip,
tip-off, intimation, allusion, innuendo, insinuation; pointer,
help, advice: The quiz-master gave me a hint and I got the
answer at once. 2 trace, suggestion, touch, taste, breath,
dash, soup‡on, whiff, undertone, tinge, whisper: Which
government has ever served without any hint of scandal?

--v. 3 suggest, imply, indicate, tip (off), intimate, allude,
insinuate, mention, clue, cue, signal, refer, advert: She
hinted that I might appeal to her sister.


hip adj. informed, aware, knowledgeable, knowing, perceptive,
alert, in or up on, onto, Colloq wise (to), with it, cool,
Old-fashioned hep: He's not hip to what they're saying about

him and Carrie.

hippie n. bohemian, Old-fashioned drop-out, beatnik, beat, longhair,
flower child or person, hipster: A few hippies were playing
their guitars at the street corner.

hire v. 1 engage, employ, take on, appoint, enlist, sign on:
Alexandra had to hire more people to get all the work done. 2
rent, lease, engage, charter: We hired a car for the day. 3
hire out. rent (out), lease (out), let (out), charter (out): I
hire out my boat by the day.

--n. 4 rent, lease, charter, letting: Do you have bicycles for
hire by the day? 5 (hire) charge, cost, fee, price, rate, rent,
rental: How much is the hire of a horse by the hour?

hiss n. 1 hissing, sibilance: Serpents and geese make a sound like
a hiss. 2 catcall, jeer, boo, hoot, Slang raspberry, US Bronx
cheer: The villain was greeted by hisses from the audience.


--v. 3 boo, hoot, jeer, deride, mock, taunt, decry, disparage:
The workers hissed and booed the speaker.

historic adj. momentous, important, noteworthy, significant, red-letter,
notable, celebrated, distinguished, prominent, great,
consequential, signal, unforgettable, memorable: We are
gathered here to commemorate a historic event.

historical
adj. factual, true, verifiable, reliable, real, authentic,
recorded, documented: The historical truth of what actually
happened on that day has been obscured by legends.

history n. 1 account, story, record, description, depiction, portrayal,
representation, telling, retelling, recital, narration,
narrative, relation, retailing: Washington Irving's
Knickerbocker's History of New York begins with the creation of
the world. 2 news, summary, recapitulation, report,
intelligence, information: The history of these events is
recounted in a book by Robinson. 3 past, background, life;
experiences, adventures, story, biography: This woman appears
to have had a rather curious history. The history of your years
in Polynesia would make an interesting book. 4 record,

experience, information, biography, CV or curriculum vitae, US
r‚sum‚: Your entire work history should be included in your
application. 5 chronicle, annals, record, account: The history
of Parliamentary debate can be traced through Hansard. 6
ancient history, the past, yesterday, the (good old) days, days
of yore, olden days, yesteryear, antiquity: What can history
tell us about the future? 7 dead letter, yesterday's news, old
hat: Any animosity I might have felt towards him is now
history.


hit v. 1 strike, cuff, smack, knock, whack, bash, bang, thump,
thwack, punch, buffet, slap, swat, bludgeon, club, smite; spank,
thrash, beat, pummel, batter, flog, scourge, birch, cane, lash,
belabour, flagellate, whip, horsewhip, cudgel, Archaic
fustigate; Colloq belt, wallop, clobber, clout, sock, clip,
crown, bop, conk, paste, lambaste, zap: She hit him on the jaw
and he went down. 2 strike, bat, swat, knock, drive, propel:
He hit the ball over the heads of the fielders. 3 strike,
collide or impact with, run or smash or crash into, bump or bang
into: The car went off the road and hit a tree. 4 affect,
touch, stir, move, wound, hurt, strike or hit home, make or
leave an impression or a mark on, (make an) impact (on): The
new taxes hit the wealthy more than the poor. 5 dawn on, enter
one's mind, occur to, strike: It finally hit Graham that he had
been insulted. 6 reach, attain, arrive at, gain, achieve:
Those who have hit eighty know the meaning of old age. She hit
the jackpot this week. 7 experience, encounter, meet (with): It
was at that point that we hit a snag in the negotiations. 8
Also, hit up. importune, beseech, petition, beg, implore,
entreat, ask for: As usual, Guthrie hit me for a loan as soon
as we met. 9 hit on or upon. a come or happen or chance or
light on or upon, discover, find, uncover, unearth, stumble or
blunder on or upon, arrive at: After years of experimentation,
the Curies hit upon pitchblende as a source of radium. b devise,
think of or up, invent, dream up, come up with, work out, see,
perceive, detect, discern, find: I have hit upon a way to
counteract the force of gravity.

--n. 10 impact, collision; blow, punch, knock, strike, swat,
shot, smack, bump, bang, Colloq whack, thwack, conk, bop, sock:
The weakness of the hit caused only a slight dent in my car
door. The boxer reeled after a hard hit to the midriff. 11
success, triumph, coup, winner, sensation, Colloq smash (hit),

sell-out: After opening in the West End the musical became a
hit on Broadway. 12 kick, jolt, thrill, Slang charge, US rush,
bang: Give me a hit off that reefer.


hitch v. 1 connect, couple, fasten, attach, join, harness, tie,
unite, hook (up), link, fix: When I arrived, she was hitching
the horses to the wagon. 2 Often, hitch up. raise, pull up,
hike (up), tug (up), hoist, yank, jerk, Brit hoick: He hitched
up his trousers, tucked in his shirt, and tightened his belt. 3
hitchhike, thumb a lift or ride, Colloq US bum a ride: I had no
money and no car, so I hitched here from Newcastle.

--n. 4 snag, catch, difficulty, trouble, problem, mishap,
handicap, entanglement, interference, impediment, hindrance,
obstruction, obstacle: The entire plan went off without any
hitch.

8.4 hoard...
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hoard n. 1 supply, stock, store, stockpile, reserve, fund, reservoir,
accumulation, collection, cache: They kept a hoard of food in
the shelter in case of attack. Occasionally, farmers turn up a
hoard of gold coins buried by the ancient Romans.

--v. 2 amass, collect, accumulate, pile (up), assemble, gather,
put away, stockpile, store, reserve, set aside, save (up),
squirrel away, lay in or away or aside or up, Colloq stash away:
Hoarding food was against the law during rationing.

hoax n. 1 deception, fraud, swindle, trick, flam or flimflam,
imposture, cheat, humbug, Slang con (game), gyp, scam, game, US
snow job: They perpetrated a hoax on you, and I am afraid there
is no way of getting your money back.

--v. 2 deceive, defraud, swindle, trick, fool, dupe, take in,
cozen, hoodwink, gull, bluff, Slang con, gyp, bamboozle: She
was hoaxed into investing in Sicilian gold-mines.


hobble v. 1 limp, falter, dodder, totter, stagger, reel, weave,
stumble, shuffle, shamble: I hobbled about on crutches for
weeks. 2 shackle, fetter, restrain, restrict, hamper, hinder,

impede, trammel: As hobbled horses do not stray, she tried to
think of some way to hobble Clarence's errant ways.

--n. 3 limp, shuffle, shamble, claudication, stagger: With the
leg-irons on, I could walk only with a jerking hobble.

hobby n. pastime, avocation, sideline, recreation, diversion,
relaxation: Her hobby is collecting wedding rings.


hobnob v. associate, fraternize, socialize, consort, mingle, rub
elbows or shoulders, mix, hang about or around, keep company:
He hobnobs with the aristocrats.

hocus-pocus
n. 1 trickery, chicanery, deceit, deception, artifice, cheat,
duplicity, mischief, hoax, humbug, trick, swindle, pretence,
Colloq con (game), jiggery-pokery, flimflam, hanky-panky: He
tried some hocus-pocus on the company books but was caught. 2
mumbo-jumbo, abracadabra, incantation, nonsense, rigmarole,
gibberish, Colloq gobbledegook: The medicine man muttered some
hocus-pocus over the body, which began to rise into the air. 3
sleight of hand, legerdemain, prestidigitation, magic,
conjuring, jugglery: From the earliest days religion has had
its share of hocus-pocus.


hoggish adj. piggish, greedy, avaricious, insatiable, gluttonous,
voracious, edacious, acquisitive, possessive, self-seeking,
selfish: Don't be so hoggish; share the cake with the others.


hoi polloi
n. riff-raff, rabble, mob, common herd, proletariat, populace,
common people, crowd, masses, multitude, rank and file,
plebeians, multitude, bourgeoisie, man in the street, Brit
admass, man on the Clapham omnibus, US John Q. Public, Colloq
great unwashed, proles, plebs, US silent majority: Much of what
goes on in government is incomprehensible to hoi polloi.

hoist v. 1 lift (up), elevate, raise, heave, uplift, winch: The
lifeboat with the survivors aboard is now being hoisted onto the
rescue vessel.

--n. 2 crane, lift, elevator, davit, winch, tackle: The cable
of the hoist broke, and the container dropped onto the pier.


hoity-toity
adj. haughty, arrogant, overweening, snobbish, disdainful,
supercilious, conceited, lofty, superior, self-important, Colloq
high and mighty, stuck-up, snooty, uppity or chiefly Brit
uppish, Brit toffee-nosed, Slang snotty: Eleanor became very
hoity-toity after her husband got his knighthood.

hold v. 1 grasp, grip, clasp, seize, clutch, keep; carry, Colloq
hang on to: She asked me to hold the baby for just a minute
while she bought her railway ticket. 2 hug, embrace, clasp,
cradle, clench, clutch, enfold: He held me in his arms briefly
before the guards led him into the quad. 3 maintain, keep, put:
Hold up your hands and kick the gun over here to me. 4
maintain, keep, sustain, absorb, occupy, engage, involve,
engross, monopolize: You hold his attention while I try to get
round behind him. 5 confine, restrain, detain, contain, coop
up: Even a strait-jacket and chains couldn't hold Houdini. 6
imprison, detain, confine, place into custody, put behind bars,
jail: He is being held overnight for questioning. 7 believe,
deem, judge, consider, regard, look on or upon, maintain, think,
esteem, take, assume: What do you hold to be important in life?
Father holds me responsible for every little dent in his car. 8
accommodate, support, carry: That little nail won't hold this
picture. 9 contain, include, comprise: This suitcase holds
everything I own in the world. 10 call, convene, assemble,
convoke; run, conduct, engage in, participate in, have, carry
on, preside over, officiate at: The next meeting will be held
on Tuesday, at noon. 11 apply, hold good, be in effect or in
force, stand or hold up, hold or prove or be true, be the case,
function, operate, be or remain or prove valid or relevant or
applicable or operative, Colloq hold water, wash: What may be
in order for Manchester may not necessarily hold for another
city. 12 have, possess: She holds two engineering degrees. He
was holding four aces. 13 remain or keep (fast), stay, stick:
Screws are needed here - nails won't hold. 14 hold back. a
restrain, repress, suppress, curb, inhibit, control, check, keep
back, hinder: Many reasons hold me back from telling you what I
think. b withhold, reserve, deny, keep back, refuse: We ought
to hold back payment till the work is completed. 15 hold down.
a control, restrain, check; reduce, diminish: We must hold down
inflation. b keep, maintain, manage: He has to hold down two
jobs to pay all the bills. 16 hold forth. a Often, hold forth

on or upon. lecture (on), declaim, harangue, preach (on or
about), orate, sermonize (on), discourse (on), speechify (on or
about), expatiate or expand on or upon, Colloq go on (about),
Brit rabbit or natter or witter on (about): As usual, Pinckley
endlessly held forth on his pet subject, fishing. b hold out,
offer, proffer, tender, submit, advance, propose, propound, hold
out, extend: The company has held forth a profit-sharing plan
that we cannot refuse. 17 hold in. a control, curb, check, hold
back, restrain, contain: I could hold myself in no longer and a
scream escaped my lips. b conceal, hide, suppress: How can I
hold in my feelings for you? 18 hold off. a delay, defer, put
off, refrain from, postpone, avoid: We held off buying till we
had the money saved up. b repel, keep off, repulse, fend off,
rebuff, resist, withstand: We held off the attackers till help
came. 19 hold on. a grip, grasp, hold, clutch, cling: Hold on
to the rope and I'll pull you up. b keep, maintain, cling, hang
on, retain: Don't try to hold on to yesterday's dreams. c
stop, wait, hold off, Colloq hang on: Hold on a minute! I'm not
finished. 20 hold out. a last, carry on, persist, persevere,
continue, hang on, stand firm or chiefly US pat, endure: I hope
that the good weather holds out for our trip. Can we hold out
till reinforcements arrive? b offer, proffer, extend, hold
forth, present: I grasped the hand he held out. 21 hold over.
a postpone, delay, defer, put off, hold off, suspend: The
decision is to be held over till next year. b continue, retain,
extend, prolong: The singer was popular enough to be held over
a month. 22 hold up. a rob, waylay, Colloq mug, stick up;
knock off or US over: Two men held up the bank courier last
night. b delay, impede, hinder, slow (down or up), set back,
detain: I was held up by the infernal traffic again. c last,
survive, fare, bear up, endure: I am not sure that my car will
hold up through another winter. d present, show, exhibit,
display: Gibbons has been held up to ridicule since the
scandal. 23 hold with. support, sustain, agree to or with,
favour, countenance, approve (of), subscribe to, condone, concur
with: Being married to her doesn't mean you have to hold with
all her ideas.

--n. 24 grasp, grip, clasp, clutch: Take hold of the rope! 25
foothold, toe-hold, purchase: She lost her hold and fell. He
has a good hold on the subject. 26 power, dominance, mastery,
control, ascendancy, authority, influence, leverage, sway,
Colloq pull, clout: She has a hold over him that makes him do

her bidding.

hold-up n. 1 (armed) robbery, Colloq stick-up, mugging, US heist: The
robbers escaped with my gold watch in the hold-up. 2 delay,
set-back, hitch, snag, interruption, lacuna, gap, hiatus, break,
stoppage: The cause of the hold-up was an overturned van.

hole n. 1 cavity, pit, hollow, excavation, burrow, crater, cavern,
cave, recess, niche, nook, pocket, depression, indentation,
dent, impression: The snake disappeared into a hole in the
rock. 2 opening, aperture, orifice, perforation, puncture,
slit, slot, breach, rip, tear, rent, break, crack, fissure: The
water poured through a hole in the pipe. 3 hole in the wall,
shack, hut, shanty, slum, hovel; Slang dump, dive, joint: How
can anyone live in such a hole? She finally got a job dancing in
some hole downtown. 4 cell, prison, dungeon, donjon, keep, jail,
oubliette, brig, cage: When he refused to talk, they put him in
the hole for a week. 5 difficulty, trouble, dilemma,
predicament, situation, fix, corner, Colloq (tight) spot, hot
water, scrape, box, bind, pickle, catch-22, mess, muddle: She
really got herself into a hole with the tax man. 6 flaw,
shortcoming, inconsistency, fault, error, mistake, fallacy,
discrepancy, loophole: He never offers anything original but is
always ready to pick holes in any suggestion you make.


--v. 7 puncture, pierce, perforate: A floating log holed the
hull and the boat went down with all aboard.

holiday n. 1 time off, break, recess, respite, leave (of absence),
furlough, sabbatical, Chiefly US vacation: We spent our holiday
in Ibiza this year. 2 festival, feast, celebration, fˆte or
fete; gala, fair, red-letter day, event: Where are you going
over the Christmas holiday?


hollow adj. 1 vacant, empty, void, unfilled: A hollow space in the
wall concealed a secret passage. 2 sunken, concave, indented,
dented, sunken, recessed, depressed: Dust gathers in the hollow
places of the floor. 3 hungry, ravenous, starved, empty,
famished: I'm feeling hollow and should prefer to eat now, not
later. 4 insincere, false, hypocritical, sham, artificial,
counterfeit, feigned, fraudulent, spurious, deceitful,
mendacious, deceptive, cynical: Politicians campaigning for
office often make hollow promises they do not intend to keep. 5

empty, futile, costly, Pyrrhic, worthless, vain, unavailing,
bootless, fruitless, profitless, unprofitable, valueless,
ineffective, pointless, senseless, meaningless: Winning the
lawsuit was a hollow victory, for the man was bankrupt. 6
muffled, dull, flat, low, sepulchral, toneless: His voice
sounded hollow, as if he were speaking into a metal bowl.

--n. 7 hole, cavity, cavern, crater, basin, depression,
excavation, pit, trough, furrow, indentation, dent, impression;
valley, dale, dell, glen, dip: We dug ourselves in a hollow in
the ground hoping not to be seen. The dog herded the sheep into
the hollow near the stream.

--v. 8 excavate, dig (out or up), gouge, scoop, furrow, dredge:
Huskies hollow out places for themselves to sleep in the snow.

holocaust n. 1 conflagration, fire-storm, inferno, fire; destruction,
devastation: When the volcano exploded, few escaped the
holocaust. 2 genocide, mass murder, massacre, blood bath,
pogrom, butchery, carnage, annihilation, extinction,
extermination, eradication, elimination: Survivors of the Nazi
holocaust hold periodic memorial services.

holy adj. 1 sacred, religious, consecrated, sanctified, blessed,
hallowed, venerated, divine, heavenly, supernal, celestial: The
holy relics are kept in a silver casket. 2 godly, godlike,
saintly, saintlike, pious, devout, reverent, reverential,
faithful, God-fearing, chaste, pure, unsullied, clean, sinless,
spotless, immaculate, undefiled, uncorrupted, untainted: The
holy men, in their saffron robes, sat in a circle, contemplating
the master of the universe.

homage n. obeisance, respect, deference, honour, esteem, admiration;
loyalty, allegiance, fidelity, tribute: Today we pay homage to
those who fought and died so that we might be free.

home n. 1 dwelling-place, residence, domicile, abode, dwelling,
house, (living) quarters, habitation, lodging(s), Brit
accommodation or US accommodations, Colloq place, Chiefly Brit
digs, diggings: He has been a guest in my home on many
occasions. 2 (home) base, residency, territory, haunt, home
ground, bailiwick, Colloq stamping-ground: As you travel so
much, what do you call home these days? 3 hospice, retreat,

nursing home, old folks' or people's home, retirement community,
almshouse, poorhouse, refuge, haven, institution, shelter,
rest-home, US snug harbor: His parents, who are very old and
indigent, have been sent to a home. 4 at home. a comfortable,
at ease, relaxed, cosy, composed, tranquil, placid, peaceful,
serene, untroubled: The Harrises certainly do make one feel at
home. b in, accessible, available, welcoming: You know that we
are always at home to you, Frances. 5 at home with or in.
comfortable with, conversant with, knowledgeable in or about,
familiar with, well-versed in, competent in, expert in,
proficient in, skilled in, up on, current in, adept in, adroit
in, qualified in, (well-)informed in or on or about: Widely
read, she is at home in almost any subject you can name.


--adj. 6 domestic, native, national, internal: Buying more
foreign than home goods upsets the balance of trade. 7
domestic, household: She now sells home appliances for a big
manufacturer. 8 family, domestic: What kind of home life has
he had?


--adv. 9 homeward(s): When will you come home? 10 to the
heart or core, to the quick; effectively, tellingly, profoundly,
deeply, stingingly, cuttingly, harshly, severely, Colloq where
it hurts, where one lives: That remark really hit home. 11
bring or drive home. stress, emphasize, impress upon, make
clear: I am trying to bring home to you the hardships people
suffered during the war.

homeless adj. 1 dispossessed, outcast, exiled, vagabond, derelict,
unsettled; unhoused: Their houses destroyed in the war,
homeless people wandered everywhere.

--n. 2 the homeless. knights of the road, vagrants, vagabonds,
tramps, US bums, hoboes: There are not enough shelters for the
homeless.

homely adj. 1 homey, homelike, unpretentious, modest, unassuming,
simple, unaffected, informal, plain, natural, everyday,
unsophisticated, homespun, commonplace, ordinary, familiar,
friendly, amiable, neighbourly, affable, congenial, Colloq
chiefly US folksy: Her success as a doctor is traceable in part
to her homely approach. 2 homey, homelike, warm, cosy, snug,
domestic, comfortable, easy, serene, peaceful, restful,

tranquil: I like staying here for the homely atmosphere. 3
ugly, plain, uncomely, unattractive, unlovely, ill-favoured:
Peggy-Jo's rather homely face is redeemed by her good-humoured
nature.


homesick adj. nostalgic, longing, pining, lonely, lonesome; wistful,
reminiscent: I was homesick for the smell and taste of a good
haggis.


homespun adj. rustic, plain, simple, unrefined, unpolished,
unsophisticated, down-to-earth, coarse, rough, rude, crude,
inelegant, amateur, amateurish, non-professional,
unprofessional; handmade: The furniture is not of museum
quality, but it has a homespun quality.


homicidal adj. murderous, lethal, deadly, death-dealing, mortal,
blood-thirsty, sanguinary, ferocious, maniacal, berserk, amok or
amuck, mad, insane: The doctors say he is homicidal and should
be institutionalized.


homogeneous
adj. uniform, consistent, unvarying, identical, constant;
similar, comparable, alike, akin: The rock is ground up to make
homogeneous powder.


homosexual
n. 1 gay, homophile; lesbian, tribade, sapphist; All the
following are offensive and derogatory pervert, invert, Slang
queer, fairy, pansy, nancy, nance, queen, drag queen, homo;
butch, (bull) dyke; Brit poof, poofter, ginger (beer), US fruit,
auntie, fag, faggot: We suspected that he was a closet
homosexual.

--adj. 2 (of either sex) gay, homoerotic, homophile; (of a
female) lesbian, tribadic, sapphic; (of a male) effeminate; All
the following are offensive and derogatory perverted, inverted,
Colloq chiefly Brit bent, Slang queer, camp, campy, faggy,
kinky, Chiefly US fruity, limp-wristed, faggy, swish, swishy:
We never knew of her homosexual tendencies.


honest adj. 1 trustworthy, truthful, veracious, trusty, honourable,
creditable, decent, law-abiding, uncorrupted, uncorrupt,
incorruptible, ethical, moral, virtuous, principled, upright,

high-minded, dependable, reliable, reputable, on the up and up:
How often does one meet an honest person in politics? 2
above-board, straight, square, square-dealing, fair, just, on
the up and up, straightforward, proper, genuine, bona fide,
real, authentic, Colloq on the level, US square-shooting: I
write because I cannot earn an honest living. Would Felix give
me an honest deal on a used car? 3 candid, frank, open, plain,
straightforward, forthright, direct, sincere, ingenuous,
explicit, uninhibited, unreserved, unrestrained, unconstrained,
above-board, plain-spoken, unambiguous, unequivocal, Colloq
upfront: To be completely honest, I cannot stand the sight of
you. 4 fair, just, equitable, legitimate, valid, rightful,
sound, proper: He gets an honest day's pay for an honest day's
work.


honestly adv. 1 truthfully, honourably, creditably, decently, ethically,
morally, uprightly, dependably, reliably, in good faith, justly,
fairly, equitably, even-handedly, disinterestedly, objectively,
impartially: In general, the police deal honestly with
suspects. 2 candidly, frankly, openly, straightforwardly,
forthrightly, sincerely, truly, ingenuously, unreservedly,
above-board, unambiguously, unequivocally, plainly, simply,
straight (out), to one's face, in plain words or English,
bluntly: I tell you honestly that I have never heard of the
man.

honesty n. 1 trustworthiness, uprightness, rectitude, probity,
integrity, virtue, virtuousness, honour: As he will deal with
large amounts of money, his honesty cannot be in question. 2
truthfulness, veracity, candour, openness, frankness,
forthrightness, directness, straightforwardness, outspokenness,
sincerity, guilelessness, ingenuousness, bluntness: You might
not like what he says, but you have to admire his honesty. 3
fairness, equity, equitableness, even-handedness, objectivity,
impartiality, disinterestedness, justness, justice: We rely on
the honesty of judges in meting out punishment to convicted
felons.

honorarium
n. (token) fee, compensation, recompense, pay, payment,
remuneration, emolument: Would you be willing to accept an
honorarium in lieu of your usual fee?

honorary adj. nominal, titular, in name or title only, ex officio: She
has several honorary doctoral degrees, which is not bad for
someone who never went to university.


honour n. 1 integrity, honesty, fairness, justness, probity,
uprightness, decency, goodness, righteousness, rectitude,
justice, morality, principles, virtuousness, virtue: Doing the
right thing is a matter of honour. 2 respect, esteem,
reverence, veneration, approbation, deference, admiration,
homage, regard, accolade, praise, kudos, fame, glory, celebrity,
distinction, prestige, illustriousness: Great honour
accompanies the award of a Nobel prize. 3 privilege,
distinction, pleasure, joy, delight; credit, blessing: I have
the honour to introduce tonight's speaker. It has been an honour
to serve under you, Admiral. 4 virginity, chastity, virtue,
purity, innocence: How did she manage to preserve her honour
when fighting with the partisans?

--v. 5 respect, esteem, revere, venerate, adulate, adore,
worship, approve, prize, value, defer to, admire, pay homage to:
Albert Schweitzer was much honoured in the latter part of his
life. 6 praise, laud, glorify, celebrate, eulogize, salute,
hail, acclaim, ennoble, dignify, exalt: We have come together
to honour those who have died for their country. 7 keep,
maintain, carry out, live up to, discharge, fulfil, observe,
meet: She has done her best to honour her obligations. 8 pay,
redeem, accept, clear, cash: The bank refused to honour his
cheque because of 'insufficient funds'.


honourable
adj. 1 upright, upstanding, trustworthy, trusty, honest, just,
fair, moral, principled, uncorrupt, uncorrupted, incorruptible,
high-minded, noble, virtuous: Mark Antony referred to Caesar as
an honourable man. 2 right, correct, proper, fitting,
appropriate, virtuous, ethical, worthy, respectable, reputable,
decent, square: I think you can count on Cedric to do the
honourable thing. 3 fair (and square), impartial, equitable,
just, honest, unbiased, unprejudiced, non-prejudicial,
even-handed, straight, disinterested, guileless, ingenuous,
artless, open, sincere, above-board, on the up and up,
undeceiving, undeceitful, Colloq upfront, on the level: Eleanor
is too honourable to accept payment for work she did not do. 4
distinguished, prestigious, eminent, notable, noteworthy, noted,

illustrious, famous, famed, honoured, exalted, respected,
celebrated, renowned, acclaimed, well-thought-of: Ian enjoys an
honourable reputation as a publisher.


hoodlum n. gangster, thug, racketeer, mobster, desperado, terrorist,
ruffian, tough, rowdy, knave, Colloq hooligan, baddy, crook, US
plug-ugly, Slang goon, Brit yob, yobbo, US mug, bad actor,
roughneck, hood, gunsel, hit man, torpedo, French apache,
Australian larrikin: He has a few hoodlums on the payroll who
do the dirty work.

hoodwink v. fool, trick, deceive, delude, dupe, gull, hoax, defraud,
mislead, humbug, outwit, Colloq bamboozle, pull the wool over
(someone's) eyes, pull a fast one on, lead (someone) up or down
the garden path, put one over on (someone), throw dust in
(someone's) eyes, take (someone) for a ride, string (someone)
along, Slang rook, con, suck in, US sucker in, snow: They are
trying to hoodwink the voters into believing that the recession
is over.


hook n. 1 hanger, peg, holder; fastener, catch, clasp, clip, pin:
Hang your hat on that hook. I'm using a safety pin because the
hook on my dress is gone. 2 snare, trap; fish-hook: What can we
use as a hook to catch the fish? 3 by hook or by crook. somehow
(or other), someway, come what may, by fair means or foul, (by)
one way or another: I have to get out of this place by hook or
by crook. 4 hook, line, and sinker. completely, entirely, all
the way, through and through, thoroughly, entirely, totally,
utterly, wholly: She actually fell for that old routine hook,
line, and sinker. 5 off the hook. (set) free, (in the) clear,
out of it; out of trouble, acquitted, exonerated, cleared, let
off, vindicated, off: After paying them the extortion money, he
still wasn't off the hook.


--v. 6 catch, trap, entrap, snare, ensnare; grab, capture,
collar, nab, seize; Chiefly US and Canadian snag, Colloq pinch:
The petty crooks have been caught but we now want to hook the
big fish himself. 7 steal, pilfer, filch, palm, shoplift, rob,
Slang snitch, rip off, Euphemistic liberate, remove, borrow,
appropriate, Brit nick, Chiefly Brit pinch: They used to hook
sweets from Woolies'.

hop v. 1 jump, leap, bound, spring, vault; skip, caper, gambol,

dance: Here comes Peter Cottontail, Hopping down the bunny
trail. 2 take a (short) trip or voyage, travel, come, go,
proceed; fly: Those yuppies think nothing of hopping over to
Paris just for dinner.


--n. 3 jump, leap, bound, spring, vault; skip, caper, dance:
In a few hops the bird was off the branch and onto my finger. 4
(short) trip or flight or journey or voyage: The Bahamas are
just a hop from Miami.


hope n. 1 desire, wish, expectation, yearning, hankering, craving,
longing, fancy; ambition, (day)dream: It was always my hope
that you would go to university. 2 prospect, promise,
expectation, expectancy, confidence, anticipation, assumption,
security, faith, conviction, belief, trust: We had given up
hope of being rescued.

--v. 3 aspire, count or rely on or upon, anticipate,
contemplate, foresee, look forward to, expect, await, wait:
After all these years, he is still hoping to meet the girl of
his dreams. 4 trust; wish, want, desire; Dialect expect: I hope
my ship will come in soon. I hope to see the last of her
tomorrow.


hopeful adj. 1 expectant, anticipating, optimistic, sanguine,
confident, assured: We are hopeful of victory in the
forthcoming election. 2 promising, bright, rosy, reassuring,
heartening, encouraging, auspicious, propitious, inspiriting:
Today was a disaster, but tomorrow looks more hopeful.


hopefully adv. 1 expectantly, optimistically, sanguinely, confidently:
Jocelyn set off hopefully for the party. 2 with (any) luck, if
things go well, all being well, it is hoped, expectedly:
Hopefully, we shall arrive in time to catch the train.


hopeless adj. 1 desperate, beyond hope or saving, irreparable, beyond
repair, irremediable, lost, gone, irretrievable; incurable,
terminal, deadly, fatal, lethal: As their ship drifted into the
intergalactic void, they saw that their situation was hopeless.
They told me that her condition was hopeless. 2 bad, poor,
incompetent, inferior, inadequate, inept, unqualified, unfit,
unskilful, deficient: You might make a good surgeon, but as a
judge of human nature you're hopeless. 3 despairing, despondent,

forlorn, woebegone, disconsolate, inconsolable, depressed,
dejected, melancholy, downcast, gloomy, miserable, discouraged,
wretched, lugubrious, funereal, sorrowful, sad, unhappy:
Utterly hopeless after his script was rejected by Hollywood, he
moped in his room. 4 futile, vain, bootless, unavailing,
impossible, impracticable, unworkable, pointless, worthless,
useless: It would be hopeless to try to send out a lifeboat in
this storm.


horizon n. view, purview, range, scope, vista, compass, perspective,
prospect, ken, field of vision, limit(s): This is something
that lies beyond the horizon of present-day knowledge.

horizontal
adj. level, flat, plane; prone, supine: Make sure that the
plank is horizontal before fastening it down. They say that
dancing is merely a vertical expression of a horizontal desire.

horrible adj. 1 awful, horrendous, horrid, horrifying, horrific,
terrible, terrifying, dreadful, abominable, abhorrent,
appalling, frightening, frightful, ghastly, grim, grisly,
ghoulish, gruesome, loathsome, hideous, repulsive, revolting,
disgusting, sickening, nauseating, nauseous, harrowing,
blood-curdling, macabre, unspeakable, shocking: The horrible
sight of her father's mangled body haunted her for the rest of
her days. 2 awful, nasty, unpleasant, disagreeable, horrid,
terrible, dreadful, obnoxious, offensive, atrocious, monstrous,
contemptible, detestable, despicable, Colloq Brit beastly: The
food was perfectly horrible at our hotel. Take that horrible
little dog away.

horrify v. 1 terrify, frighten, scare, alarm, intimidate, panic, scare
or frighten to death, petrify, Colloq scare or frighten the
living daylights out of, scare stiff, make (someone's) hair
stand on end, make (someone's or the) blood run cold, curl
(someone's) hair, scare the pants off: I was horrified to see
the attack dogs racing towards me. 2 shock, startle, upset, put
off, outrage, dismay, appal, distress, discountenance,
disconcert: I was horrified to hear that you weren't coming to
my party.

horror n. 1 fear and loathing, repugnance, terror, dread, hatred,
revulsion, detestation, abhorrence, distaste, dislike; aversion,

antipathy, hostility, animosity, animus, rancour; odium,
execration: She has a horror of bats. 2 fear, dismay,
distress, dread, fright, alarm, upset, perturbation, panic,
terror, fear and trembling, trepidation, anxiety, angst,
apprehension, uneasiness, queasiness, nervousness, awe: The
doctor helped me overcome my horror of flying.

hors-d'oeuvre
n. appetizer, ap‚ritif, antipasto, smorgasbord or sm”rg†sbord,
relish; Chiefly Brit starter; Archaic warner: A Sauvignon was
served with the hors-d'oeuvre, which was gravadlax.

hospitable
adj. 1 welcoming, gracious, courteous, genial, friendly,
agreeable, amicable, cordial, warm, congenial, sociable,
generous: It was most hospitable of you to invite me. 2
open-minded, receptive, amenable, approachable, tolerant: The
director is always hospitable to suggestions for improving
sales.


hospital n. medical centre, health centre, infirmary, clinic,
polyclinic, dispensary, sickbay; asylum, sanatorium, nursing
home, convalescent home or facility, US sanitarium: With that
wound, you ought to be in a hospital.


hospitality
n. graciousness, courtesy, courteousness, friendliness,
amicability, cordiality, warmth, congeniality, sociability,
generosity: I am grateful for the hospitality you showed my
sister during her visit.

hostฐ n. 1 hostess, innkeeper, hotelier, hotel-keeper, hotelman,
landlord or landlady, manager or manageress, proprietor or
proprietress, Brit publican: As host, it is my responsibility
to greet the guests. 2 entertainer, master or mistress of
ceremonies, emcee, MC, announcer, Brit presenter, compŠre, US
tummler: For twenty years he has been the host of popular TV
quiz shows.


--v. 3 entertain, act or play the host or hostess, have: She
hosts a dinner-party for close friends every Wednesday.

host n. army, swarm, crowd, horde, multitude, throng, mob, pack,

herd, troop, legion, body, assembly, assemblage, drove: The
rock group turned up with a host of followers, their so-called
groupies.


hostage n. pledge, security, surety, pawn, captive, prisoner, gage:
The terrorists threatened that if their demands were not met
they would kill the hostages.

hostile adj. 1 opposed, antagonistic, contrary, against, anti, adverse;
averse, loath: The government is hostile to curbs on business.
2 unfriendly, inimical, unsympathetic, cold, inhospitable;
unfavourable: Why do many social workers seem hostile to the
people they are supposed to help? The polar regions are very
hostile environments to man. 3 warring, belligerent, bellicose,
warlike, combative, militant, aggressive: The UN units function
as a buffer between the hostile forces.

hostility n. 1 antagonism, opposition, enmity, animosity, antipathy,
animus, ill will, malevolence, malice, aversion, unfriendliness:
Do you still harbour the feelings of hostility towards them that
you had during the war? The petty quarrels broke out into open
hostility. 2 hostilities. war, warfare, fighting, combat,
action, state of war, bloodshed: Hostilities ceased when the
factions agreed to parley.


hot adj. 1 fiery, white-hot, red-hot, piping hot, burning,
blistering, scorching, roasting, frying, sizzling, searing,
boiling, scalding, steaming, simmering, torrid, sweltering,
sultry, heated: The hot, molten steel is cast into ingots here.
During the day it is hot, but it cools down at night. 2 spicy,
peppery, sharp, piquant, pungent, biting, acrid: She likes very
hot food, with plenty of chilli. 3 intense, fervent, zealous,
ardent, enthusiastic, passionate, fervid, vehement, excited,
animated; impetuous, fiery, fierce, inflamed, sharp, violent:
He had some hot words with the foreman who had dismissed him. 4
eager, keen, avid, anxious, burning; intense, fervent, zealous,
ardent, enthusiastic, passionate, fervid, vehement, excited,
animated, earnest, Slang US gung-ho: Desmond set out in hot
pursuit of the thief. 5 recent, fresh, new, latest, brand-new:
The hottest gossip is that she is marrying for the seventh time.
6 popular, sought-after, commercial, saleable, marketable: The
publisher believes Zenobia's Memoirs to be the hot property of
the year. 7 lustful, lecherous, libidinous, lubricous or

lubricious, sensual, concupiscent, prurient, licentious,
oversexed, sex-crazed, sex-mad, Archaic lickerish, horn-mad,
Slang horny, Chiefly Brit randy, US hard up: They were really
hot, not having been with anyone of the opposite sex for months.
8 intense, vivid, striking, bright, brilliant, dazzling, loud:
That hot pink lipstick looks good with your suntan. 9
electrified, live, charged, powered: The hot wire connects to
the other terminal - I think. 10 dangerous, precarious, risky,
sensitive, delicate, unstable, touchy, unpredictable: The
situation is getting a bit too hot to handle.

--v. 11 hot up. intensify, build up, heighten, increase,
worsen, warm up, heat up: The environment is hotting up as a
political issue.


hot air n. blather or blether, bunkum, verbiage, talk, wind,
pretentiousness, pomposity, bombast, grandiloquence,
magniloquence, flatulence, gasconade, rodomontade, Colloq
claptrap, bosh, gas, guff: Management's promises of pay
increases were nothing but hot air.

hotbed n. breeding ground, fertile source: Slums are a hotbed of
crime.


hotchpotch
n. miscellany, mixture, gallimaufry, jumble, farrago, m‚lange,
mishmash, mess, tangle, medley, hash, conglomeration,
agglomeration, olio, olla podrida, pot-pourri, rag-bag, welter,
US and Canadian hodgepodge, Colloq omnium gatherum, mixed bag:
That hotchpotch of junk is scarcely what I should call an
'antiques collection'.

hotel n. hostelry, inn, lodging, caravanserai; motel, motor hotel,
bed and breakfast or B & B, guest-house, pension, Australian and
New Zealand pub, US tourist house: We are staying at a small
hotel just outside of town.

hotheaded adj. impetuous, headlong, hot-tempered, quick-tempered,
volatile, rash, hasty, wild, foolhardy, reckless, precipitate,
thoughtless, heedless, madcap, daredevil, devil-may-care: He is
too hotheaded to succeed in the diplomatic corps.

hothouse n. 1 hotbed, greenhouse, glasshouse, conservatory: These

tomatoes were grown during the winter in our hothouse.

--adj. 2 dainty, delicate, sensitive, fragile, frail, pampered,
overprotected, sheltered, shielded, spoiled, coddled, babied:
She was glad to exchange the hothouse atmosphere of the
university for the real world.

hotly adv. intensively, energetically, doggedly, persistently,
zealously, fervently, fervidly, ardently, warmly,
enthusiastically: Hotly pursued by the police, I managed to
hide in a culvert.

hound v. bully, browbeat, persecute, nag, harass, annoy, pester,
harry, badger: Although he was found innocent, his neighbours
hounded him so much that he had to leave town.

house n. 1 residence, dwelling, dwelling-place, home, abode,
household, homestead, domicile, lodging(s), quarters, building,
edifice: We are playing bridge at my house next Saturday. 2
family, line, lineage, dynasty, clan, ancestry, strain, race,
blood, descendants, forebears: She is a member of the royal
house of Sweden. 3 legislature, legislative body, congress,
parliament, assembly, council, diet: Both houses of the
legislature passed the bill. 4 establishment, firm, concern,
company, business, organization, enterprise, undertaking, Colloq
outfit: He has gone from one publishing house to another with
his manuscript. 5 auditorium, theatre, concert-hall: The house
is sold out. 6 house of ill repute or ill fame or prostitution,
brothel, whore-house, bagnio, bordello, Archaic bawdy-house,
Colloq sporting house, crib, Slang US cat-house: She used to
run a house in Lambeth. 7 on the house. free, gratis, for
nothing, as a gift: Drinks will be on the house tonight to
celebrate the tenth anniversary of our opening.


--v. 8 shelter, accommodate, domicile, lodge, quarter, put up,
take in, board, billet, harbour: We have housed as many as ten
people at a time in the cottage. 9 contain, accommodate,
quarter: This building houses our computer operations.


housing n. 1 homes, houses, lodging(s), quarters, accommodation,
habitation, dwelling; shelter, protection: The Council is
trying to provide housing for the elderly. 2 case, casing,
cover, covering, enclosure, container, box, shield: We keep the

sensitive equipment in a dust-proof housing.

hovel n. hole, shack, shanty, (pig)sty, pigpen, coop, crib, hut,
Colloq US dump: The beggar lives in a hovel near the railway
station.

hover v. 1 drift, poise, float, hang, be or hang suspended, hang in
the air: The humming bird hovers over a flower, drinking its
nectar. 2 linger, loiter, wait, hang about or around: The
waiter's constant hovering about is making me nervous.

however adv. 1 notwithstanding, regardless, nevertheless, nonetheless,
despite (that), in spite of (that), still, but, though, yet,
even so, be that as it may, come what may, no matter what; at
any rate, anyway, anyhow, on the other hand, in all events, in
any event, in any case, after all: He insisted the council
should give their approval; however, that is not their
responsibility. I was ready to move to Cardiff; she didn't offer
me the job, however. 2 to whatever manner or extent or degree,
howsoever, no matter how, in any way or manner or respect,
anyhow, how, in whatever way or manner: However you view it, he
is still the boss. Spend the money however you see fit.

--conj. 3 how, how on earth, how in the world, in what way or
manner: However do you manage with only three to help, you poor
thing? 4 no matter how, regardless how, putting or setting
aside how, notwithstanding how: However much she earns, she is
always short of money.


howl v. 1 yowl, cry, wail, ululate, bay; shout, yell, bellow,
scream, roar, Colloq holler: The wolves were howling at the
moon last night. He howled with pain when he caught his finger
in the door.


--n. 2 yowl, yowling, ululation, ululating, wail, wailing,
yelp, yelping, cry; shout, yell, bellow, scream, roar, Colloq
holler: The wolf's howl is an eerie, chilling sound. I kicked
him and he let out a howl.


howler n. blunder, mistake, error, gaffe; malapropism, Irish bull;
Brit bloomer, US clinker, Colloq Brit clanger, US boner: One
paper contained the howler, 'Money is the route of all evil',
which the author explained should be corrected to, 'The love of

money is the root of all evil'.

8.5 hub...
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-



hub n. centre, focus, focal point, pivot, heart, core, nucleus,
nave: This is the hub of the city, around which everything else
moves.


huddle n. 1 cluster, group, bunch, clump, pack, herd, crowd, throng,
mass: Everyone got into a huddle, trying to keep warm. 2
meeting, conference, discussion, consultation: They were in a
huddle, deciding what to do next.


--v. 3 cluster, gather, crowd or press together, throng or
flock together, nestle, jam or cram together, squeeze together:
We huddled in basements during air raids. 4 meet, discuss,
confer, consult: Let's huddle on this question of the
advertising schedule.

hue n. colour, tint, shade, tinge, tone, cast, tincture, Technical
chroma: The dust in the atmosphere gives the sunsets a reddish
hue.


huff n. 1 in a huff. piqued, peeved, testy, irritated, angered,
vexed, annoyed, in high dudgeon, provoked, exasperated,
petulant, in a pet, Colloq (all) het up: She went off in a huff
because I didn't praise her painting.


--v. 2 puff, blow, bluster: When I complained about the food,
the manager simply huffed and puffed and walked away.

hug v. 1 embrace, clasp, squeeze, cuddle, snuggle, Archaic or
literary clip: They hugged each other warmly, then kissed
goodbye. 2 follow closely, cling to, stay or keep near or close
to: We hugged the ground as the bullets whizzed by overhead.

--n. 3 embrace, clasp, squeeze, Colloq clinch: She saw me, ran
over, and gave me a big hug.

huge adj. large, great, enormous, gigantic, giant, immense, massive,
tremendous, gargantuan, prodigious, mammoth, colossal,

monumental, Brobdingnagian, titanic, stupendous, elephantine,
leviathan, mountainous, vast, Colloq jumbo, whopping: The red
spot on Jupiter is so huge it could swallow the earth several
times over.


hulk n. 1 shipwreck, wreck, derelict, shell, skeleton: The rusting
hulk of the once-proud ship is tied up at the dock. 2 oaf,
clod, lout, ox, Slang US galoot or galloot, klutz: Don't tell
me that hulk of a man painted these delicate miniatures!


hulking adj. clumsy, awkward, ungainly, lubberly, oafish, loutish;
unwieldy, cumbersome, bulky, ponderous, massive, ungraceful,
inelegant: Their great hulking son could no longer fit into his
clothes. That hulking monolith of an office building dominates
the entire neighbourhood.

hull n. 1 framework, skeleton, frame, structure, body: The hull of
the ship completed, we added the superstructure. 2 shell, pod,
case, husk, skin, peel, rind, US shuck: Squirrels carefully
nibble through the hull of the nut to get at the kernel inside.

--v. 3 shell, peel, skin, husk, US shuck: We hulled all the
nuts and they are now ready for the fruit cake.


hum v. 1 buzz, drone, thrum, murmur, whirr, purr, vibrate,
Technical bombinate or bombilate: I want to smell the wild
flowers and hear the bees hum once again. 2 bustle, stir, be
active, move briskly, Colloq tick (over): Within three months
of completion, the new plant was humming. 3 intone: I said,
'Do you know your rock guitar is keeping me awake?', and he
replied, 'No, man, but if you hum it I'll try to play it.'

--n. 4 buzz, buzzing, drone, droning, thrum, thrumming, murmur,
murmuring, murmuration, whirr, whirring, purr, purring,
vibration: From the other room came the hum of conversation.

human adj. 1 mortal, anthropoid, hominoid, android; hominid; Possibly
offensive manlike: The aliens from the spaceship had few human
characteristics. It is human nature to think. 2 sensitive,
defenceless, weak, fallible, vulnerable: She is human, too, and
can be easily hurt. 3 kind, kindly, kind-hearted, considerate,
charitable, compassionate, merciful, benign, benignant, tender,
gentle, forgiving, lenient, benevolent, beneficent, generous,

magnanimous, humanitarian, understanding, accommodating,
sympathetic, good-natured, humane, sensitive: Human concern for
others is in short supply these days.


--n. 4 human being, person, individual, woman, man, child,
mortal, one, soul, someone, somebody: Humans have long
maltreated many of the animals on which they depend.

humanitarian
adj. 1 See human, 3.

--n. 2 Good Samaritan, benefactor, philanthropist, altruist:
Because of her charitable works, Lady Pendleton is thought of as
a great humanitarian.


humanity n. 1 human race, people, society, humankind, Homo sapiens; the
public, the masses, community; Possibly offensive man, mankind:
From what we are told, humanity took millions of years to
evolve. 2 humanness, human nature, mortality: On his first
voyage to Mars, Kollworth began to doubt his own humanity. 3
kindness, kindliness, kind-heartedness, consideration,
helpfulness, charitableness, open-heartedness, warm-heartedness,
good will, benevolence, compassion, mercifulness, mercy,
benignity, tenderness, warmth, gentleness, leniency or lenience
or lenity, beneficence, generosity, unselfishness, magnanimity,
understanding, sympathy, sensitivity: It was owing to the
humanity of our neighbours that we survived the bombing.

humble adj. 1 modest, reserved, unpretentious, unostentatious,
self-effacing, unassuming, unpresuming: For someone who has
accomplished so much, she is quite humble. 2 submissive, meek,
servile, obsequious, deferential, mild, respectful, subservient,
subdued: Usually pompous, Nigel became humble in the presence
of the chairman. 3 lowly, low, inferior, mean, ignoble,
ordinary, plebeian, common, simple, obscure, unprepossessing,
unimportant, undistinguished, insignificant; low-born, base,
base-born: He lives in a humble cottage. Though she came from a
humble background, she rose to become prime minister.


--v. 4 chasten, bring or pull down, subdue, abase, debase,
demean, lower, degrade, downgrade, reduce, make (someone) eat
humble pie, lose face, shame, humiliate, crush, break, mortify,
chagrin, Colloq put down, take (someone) down a peg or notch:

He found army discipline a humbling experience.

humdrum adj. dull, boring, tedious, tiresome, wearisome, monotonous,
unvaried, unvarying, routine, undiversified, unchanging,
repetitious, uneventful, unexciting, uninteresting, prosaic,
mundane, ordinary, commonplace, common, banal, dry, insipid,
jejune: They saw no way of escaping from their humdrum lives.

humid adj. damp, moist, muggy, clammy, sticky, steamy, soggy, sultry,
wet: The weather has been oppressively hot and humid all week.

humiliate v. See humble, 4.

humiliation
n. disgrace, shame, mortification, dishonour, ignominy,
indignity, discredit, loss of face, obloquy, abasement,
depreciation, detraction, degradation, derogation, belittlement,
disparagement, shaming, embarrassment, humbling: He had to
suffer the humiliation of being drummed out of the corps.


humility n. modesty, meekness, self-effacement, shyness, diffidence,
timidity, timorousness, meekness, bashfulness, mildness,
unpretentiousness, submissiveness, servility, self-abasement,
lowliness: She sees humility as dissatisfaction with oneself on
account of some defect or infirmity.

humorous adj. funny, comical, facetious, laughable, risible, ludicrous,
farcical, side-splitting, hilarious, merry; droll, whimsical,
amusing, witty, waggish, jocular, jocose, playful, pleasant,
Colloq hysterical: The humorous parts of the play sent the
audience into gales of laughter.

humour n. 1 funniness, comedy, wit, facetiousness, ludicrousness,
drollery, jocoseness or jocosity, jocularity, waggishness,
raillery, banter: One writer defined humour as 'the happy
compound of pathos and playfulness', another referred to the
sense of humour as a 'modulating and restraining balance-wheel'.
2 comedy, farce, jokes, jests, witticisms, wit, Slang
wisecracks, gags: Milton was scarcely known as a writer of
humour. 3 mood, frame of mind, temper; spirit(s); disposition,
nature, temperament: She is in a bad humour till after
breakfast.

--v. 4 soothe, gratify, placate, please, mollify, indulge,
appease, pamper, cosset, coddle, mollycoddle, jolly, baby,
spoil: They are trying to humour him because he's in a bad
mood.


hump n. 1 bulge, lump, bump, protuberance, protrusion, projection,
knob, node, mass, hunch, enlargement, swelling, growth,
excrescence, tumefaction, tumescence; mound, barrow, tell,
hummock, hillock, tumulus, Brit dialect tump: Digging into the
hump near the trees, we uncovered an ancient burial-ground.

--v. 2 hunch, arch, curve, crook, bend: Sulking in the corner,
he humped his back and refused to speak to anyone. 3 drag, lug,
haul, carry, heave: She had to hump two heavy suitcases all the
way from the railway station.

hunch n. 1 (intuitive) guess, intuition, feeling, impression,
suspicion, premonition, presentiment: I had a hunch they would
be late. 2 See hump, 1.


--v. 3 See hump, 2.

hunger n. 1 hungriness, emptiness, appetite, ravenousness,
voraciousness, voracity; famine, starvation: We ate leaves to
stave off the pangs of hunger. Some optimists hope to eliminate
hunger from the planet by the year 2000. 2 yearning, desire,
craving, itch, thirst, longing, hankering, mania, cupidity,
Formal cacoethes, Colloq yen: She felt an insatiable hunger for
intellectual companionship.


--v. 3 Usually, hunger for or after. crave, yearn, desire,
thirst, want, hanker, Colloq yen, have a yen: Blessed are they
who hunger and thirst after righteousness.


hungry adj. 1 famished, starved, starving, ravenous, voracious, empty,
hollow, Colloq chiefly Brit peckish: I'm hungry enough to eat a
horse. 2 craving, covetous, eager, avid, greedy, keen,
yearning, desirous, longing, hungering, thirsting, starving,
dying, Colloq hankering: Marooned for years, Crusoe was hungry
for the sight of another human being. 3 acquisitive, greedy,
thirsty, insatiable, deprived: The parched, hungry earth drank
up the rain.

hunt v. 1 chase, pursue, dog, hound, stalk, trail, track (down),
trace; course: The jewel thieves were hunted across three
continents. 2 Also, hunt for or up or out or through. seek
(out), search (for), go in search of or for, look (high and low)
for, quest after, go in quest of, scour, ransack, investigate,
pry into, go over or through with a fine-tooth comb, examine,
explore, Colloq US check out: Detectives hunted the carpet for
clues. She is hunting a job in publishing. I have hunted for the
ring but cannot find it. Can you hunt up someone to fill the
vacancy? Hunt through your pockets again for the key.

--n. 3 chase, pursuit, tracking (down), stalking, hunting;
course: The ten-year hunt for the thieves continues. 4 search,
quest: My hunt ended when I found the ring.


hunter n. huntsman, huntswoman, stalker, tracker, Nimrod, Orion;
huntress: An expert hunter, she bagged three tigers last year.

hurdle n. 1 barrier, obstacle, impediment, hindrance, obstruction,
bar, handicap, restraint, snag, (stumbling) block, check,
difficulty, complication, interference: Can she overcome the
hurdle of prejudice against women?

--v. 2 leap (over), vault (over), jump (over): The fugitive
easily hurdled the fence around the compound.

hurl v. throw, toss, shy, sling, fling, pitch, cast, send, fire,
heave, propel, let fly, Colloq chuck: The fast bowler hurled
the ball past the batsman.


hurricane n. cyclone, tornado, typhoon, whirlwind, twister, wind-storm,
storm, gale, blow: The 1985 hurricane destroyed millions of
trees.


hurried adj. 1 hasty, feverish, frantic, hectic, breakneck, frenetic,
impetuous, rushed, precipitate, swift, quick, speedy; brief,
short: We ate a hurried lunch before leaving to catch the
train. 2 superficial, cursory, offhand, perfunctory, slapdash:
Airport security guards made only a hurried examination of the
hand luggage.

hurry v. 1 rush, hasten, make haste, speed, race, dash, hustle,
scurry, tear, fly, run, shoot, scoot, scamper, scuttle, hotfoot

(it), Colloq shake a leg, get cracking, get a move on, go hell
for leather, skedaddle, step on it, step on the gas, Chiefly US
hightail (it), go like greased lightning, get a wiggle on:
You'll have to hurry to catch your bus. 2 speed up, accelerate,
hasten, rush, push, press, expedite; urge, egg: Such changes
take time and can't be hurried. She hurried the children along
so that they wouldn't miss the bus.

--n. 3 haste, rush, urgency, eagerness; agitation, disquiet,
upset, dither, fuss, bustle, ado, to-do, furore or US furor,
commotion, turmoil, stir, pother; Colloq stew, sweat: Why all
the hurry to finish before dark? He's in an awful hurry to get
home.


hurt v. 1 harm, injure, wound; damage, impair, mar, spoil, vitiate,
ruin: She's so gentle she wouldn't hurt a fly. The scandal hurt
the candidate's chances of election. 2 ache, smart, pain, pinch,
sting, burn, torment, gripe: My elbow really hurts where I hit
it. 3 distress, grieve, affect, afflict, aggrieve, depress,
upset, disappoint, pain, cut to the quick, affront, offend:
Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt
me. You always hurt the one you love. 4 injure, maim, wound,
cripple, lame, disable, incapacitate, damage, mutilate, mangle:
Three people have been badly hurt in a car crash on the
motorway.

--n. 5 harm, injury, damage, detriment, disadvantage: How much
more hurt can you cause beyond what you have done already? 6
ache, pain, pang, distress, discomfort, suffering, torment,
torture, agony; anguish, misery, woe, dolour, sadness,
depression: If you rub on this ointment, the hurt will go away.
You cannot imagine the hurt we felt when he failed his
examinations.


--adj. 7 injured, wronged, pained, rueful, grieved, unhappy,
aggrieved, sad, wretched, woebegone, sorrowful, mournful,
depressed, dejected, dismal, gloomy, melancholy: Whenever I
mention getting a job she gets that hurt expression on her face.
8 damaged, defective, marred, impaired, broken, worn,
dilapidated, shop-worn, scratched, bruised, scarred: They are
holding a sale of hurt merchandise at the warehouse tomorrow.

hurtful adj. 1 harmful, injurious, detrimental, pernicious,

prejudicial, disadvantageous, damaging, deleterious,
destructive, noisome, noxious, baneful, mischievous: Efficient
government is advantageous to many and hurtful to none. 2
nasty, cruel, cutting, malicious, mean, unkind, wounding,
spiteful: He made some hurtful accusations about the
librarian's efficiency.

hurtle v. rush (headlong), tear, shoot, race, speed; plunge: The car
hurtled round the corner and crashed into a tree. Two bodies
hurtled past me into the abyss below.

husband n. 1 mate, spouse, groom, bridegroom, partner, Colloq old man,
hubby: My husband and I take turns cleaning the house.


--v. 2 save, keep, retain, hoard, conserve, preserve, store;
budget, economize (on), manage: If we husband our resources, we
shall have enough for a rainy day.

hush interj. 1 Shush!, Quiet!, Be or Keep quiet or silent or still!,
Hold your tongue!, Mum's the word!, Slang Shut up!, Clam up!,
Shut your trap!, Button your lip!, Shut your gob!, Brit Belt
up!, US Hush up!, Shut your face!, US dialect Hush your mouth!:
Hush! You're in a library.


--v. 2 shush, silence, still, quiet: I wish she'd hush the
child's wailing. 3 suppress, mute, soften, soft-pedal, whisper:
They spoke in hushed tones. 4 Usually, hush up. suppress,
repress, quash, cover up, hide, conceal, keep quiet, Colloq
squelch: They tried to hush up the news about his extramarital
affairs. 5 soothe, allay, calm, quiet, mollify, pacify,
placate, tranquillize: Our worst fears were hushed by father's
comforting words.

--n. 6 silence, quiet, stillness, peace, tranquillity: A hush
came over the crowd as she rose to speak.

husky adj. 1 brawny, strapping, sturdy, burly, well-built, robust,
hefty, rugged, powerful, strong, stout, thickset, muscular,
tough, Colloq beefy: Two husky men arrived to move the piano.
2 hoarse, gruff, dry, harsh, rasping, rough, raucous: She has a
deep, husky voice I would recognize anywhere.

hustle v. 1 rush, push, hurry, hasten, run, dash, scamper, scuttle,

scurry, sprint: Mrs Grumble hustles off to the market every
morning. He said that one must really hustle to make a living
these days. 2 shove, push, drive, force, hasten, expedite,
press: The bill was hustled through the legislature in just one
day. 3 shove, crowd, push, jostle, elbow, thrust, force: She
tried to hustle her way to the front of the queue. 4 push,
eject, force, coerce, drive, Colloq bounce: He was hustled out
the back door.


--n. 5 pushing, jostling, buffeting, jarring, elbowing,
shoving, nudging: We always take taxis to avoid the hustle in
the underground. 6 activity, action, stir, movement: I can't
concentrate with all the hustle and bustle going on in the
office.


hut n. cabin, shack, shanty, shed, lean-to, shelter, cote, Literary
cot, Australian gunyah: We found a tiny hut where we could keep
out of the storm.


8.6 hybrid...
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-



hybrid n. mixture, cross-breed, half-breed, mongrel, cross, composite,
combination, compound: The best wheat for this region is a
hybrid developed in our laboratory.

hygienic adj. clean, sanitary, sterile, disinfected, germ-free, aseptic,
pure: It is essential that hygienic surroundings be maintained
in hospitals.

hypnotize v. fascinate, mesmerize, entrance, cast a spell over or on,
captivate, enchant, charm, spellbind, bewitch, enrapture,
ensorcell, transport: Greg is completely hypnotized by that
singer at Felipe's nightclub.

hypocrisy n. deceit, deceitfulness, duplicity, double-dealing, deception,
chicanery, guile, quackery, charlatanism or charlatanry,
falseness, fakery, falseness, lying, mendacity, Pharisaism or
Phariseeism, Tartuffery, insincerity, two-facedness, sanctimony,
sanctimoniousness, Colloq phoneyness or US also phoniness: I
loath hypocrisy and double standards.

hypocrite n. deceiver, double-dealer, quack, charlatan, impostor or
imposter, mountebank, confidence man or trickster, faker,
pretender, liar, Pharisee, whited sepulchre, Tartuffe,
flimflammer, Colloq phoney or US also phony, con man, flimflam
man or artist, two-face: It is incredible that so many were
duped by that hypocrite.

hypocritical
adj. deceptive, deceitful, deceiving, insincere, dissembling,
feigning, dissimulating, double-dealing, false, fake, faking,
two-faced, pretending, lying, mendacious, Pharisaic(al),
sanctimonious, dishonest, underhand, treacherous, perfidious,
untrustworthy: He regards the Victorians as nothing but smug
prudes and hypocritical moralizers.


hypothesis
n. theory, theorem, postulate, premise or premiss, proposition,
assumption, supposition, speculation: Cadwallader's Hypothesis
is that television sets watch viewers while viewers are watching
them.

hypothetical
adj. assumed, supposed, conjectural, conjectured, hypothesized,
putative, surmised, assumed, presumed, suspected, imagined,
guessed, speculative, speculated, theoretical, suppositional,
suppositious or supposititious: Let us take the hypothetical
case of someone, for example, who refuses to pay income tax.

hysterical
adj. 1 raving, mad, beside oneself, crazed, irrational,
distracted, rabid, frantic, frenzied, wild, berserk,
uncontrolled, uncontrollable, unrestrained, unrestrainable:
They are subject to violent, hysterical outbursts. 2 hilarious,
side-splitting, uproarious, farcical, comical, funny: The
absolutely hysterical sign in our Japanese hotel read, 'You are
invited to take advantage of the chambermaid'.