Essential vocabulary

1. annoy vt/i 1) to make a little angry, especially by repeated acts;
to disturb and nervously upset a person: Wilfred did not want to pay
too much attention to Fleur, he was afraid of annoying her.

Sin. vex, irk, bother

2) persistent interrupting, interrupting with or intruding on until the victim is angry or upset: Clouds of flies annoyed our horses.

Syn. worry, harass, plague, pester, tease

Ant. soothe, comfort

to be annoyed at / over smth: He was annoyed at the boy's stupidity.

to be annoyed with: The old woman was annoyed with the noisy children.

annoying a causing one to feel annoyed, as annoying manners: How annoying...! The annoying thing about it is that I keep thinking about Lizzy.

Syn. bothersome, irritating, troublesome, harassing, tormenting, nagging, vexatious

2. chatter vi 1) to talk quickly or foolishly or without a stop: The
two girls chattered merrily unaware of Roger's presence. 2) to make
quick indistinct sounds: The sparrows were chattering on the roof of
the cottage. 3) to strike the lower and upper teeth together from cold
or fever: She was so frightened that her teeth chattered.

chaterbox n a person who chatters

chatter n sounds of the kinds described by the verb «to chatter»: The chatter of the birds could be heard everywhere.

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chattering n The cheerfulchattering ofchildren came from the nursery. to chatter like a magpie

3. cheer vt/i 1) to fill with gladness hope, high spirits; comfort:
Everyone was cheered by the good news. He cheered up at once when I
promised to help him. Cheer up! Your troubles will soon be over. 2) to
give shouts of joy, approval, or encouragement: The speaker was loud­
ly cheered. Everybody cheered the news that peace had come.

to cheer for (cheer on): to support (a competitor) with cheers, about to encourage: Let's go to the football game and cheer for our favourite team. Please come to the sports meeting to cheer on our team.

cheer n 1) state of hope, gladness; words of cheer, of encourage­ment; 2) shout of joy or encouragement used by spectators to en­courage or show enthusiasm or support for their team: The cheers of the spectators filled the stadium.

to give three cheers for to cry, or shout «Hurrah!» three times: The team members gave three cheers for their captain.

cheerful a 1) happy and contented: He kept throughout his life his youthful optimism and his cheerful trust in men.

Syn. glad, happy, lighthearted, joyful, joyous

Ant. gloomy

2) bright, pleasant, bringing joy, as a cheerful room, sound, con­versation; cheerful surroundings: Mary's cheerful talk encouraged her friends.

Ant. cheerless, gloomy

cheery a is a rather trivial colloquialism for cheerful

cheerio inter} a colloquial word used as farewell: Cheerio, old friends!

cheers 1) is used as a toast «Your health!». Does everybody have beer? Yes, cheers. 2) a modern informal use of cheers in British Engish is to mean «good-bye» or «thank you»: I'll give you a hand tomorrow. Cheers, that'll be great.

4. contest vt 1) to argue; debate, dispute, as to contest a state­
ment (a point); to try to show that it is wrong, as to contest smb's
right to do smth; 2) to take part in a struggle or competition (with or
against smb or smth), as to contest a match (a race): Jim had to con­
test against the world's best winners in the Games and did well to come
third. 3) to fight or compete for, to try to win, as to contest a seat in
Parliament: The soldiers contested every inch of the ground.

Syn. contend

contest n struggle, fight; competition, as a keen contest for the prize; a contest of skill; a musical contest; a close contest: The ice-hockey cham­pionship was a close contest between Canada, Sweden and Russia.

contestant n one who contests

Syn. contender

contestable a open to argument: That's a contestable statement, you can't prove it.

5. emerge vi 1) to come forth into view from an enclosed and ob­
scure place: The moon emerges from beyond the clouds. 2) to rise into
notice and esp. to issue (come forfh) from suffering, subjection, danger,
embarrassment, etc.: New artistic developments emerged after the revo­
lution. 3) to come out as the result of investigation, discussion (of a
fact, a principle): At last there emerged Einstein's Theory of Relativity.

Syn. issue

emergency n a sudden happening requiring prompt action; one to be used in an emergency, as an emergency exit (door); an emergency fund; an emergency (forced) landing: These stairs are to be used only in an emergency. The plane was caught in a snow-storm and had to make an emergency landing.

Syn. juncture, contingency, pinch, crisis

6. hint n slight or indirect indication or suggestion: She gave him a
hint that she would like him to leave. I know how to take a hint. «Hints
for housewives» (as the title of an article giving suggestions that will
help housewives)

to drop a hint: / dropped him hints on the impropriety of his con­duct.

to give a person a gentle (broad) hint: Martin gave Joe a gentle hint but it was lost upon him.

hint vi to suggest, to mention casually: The woman hinted at her urgent need of money. He hinted at my impudence. Hi hinted that I ought to work harder.

Syn. suggest, imply, intimate, insinuate

7. rattle vt/i 1) (cause to) make short, sharp sounds quickly, one
after the other: The windows were rattling in the strong wind. The hail
rattled on the roof.

to rattle off (colloq.) to talk, to say or repeat smth quickly; to re­peat (words) quickly and too easily from memory; to perform (an action) with ease and speed: What is the point of teaching the children

to rattle off the names of the kings and queens of England if they know nothing about history?

to rattle away / on to talk rapidly and at some length and unin­terestingly: At every meeting of the women's club, Mrs White rattles on for hours.

2) to annoy, cause to feel angry: My persistent questioning of his story rattled him, and he refused to answer my queries. She was rattled by the hypothetical eyes spying upon her.

Syn. embarrass, discomfit, abash, faze

rattled a annoyed: In the end he got rattled, or: We got him rattled.

8. reduce vt/i 1) to take (smth) smaller or less; being smth (such as a price, size, or amount) down to a lower level or smaller size. Your speed must be reduced to the city speed limit as soon as you cross the border. Taxes should be reduced to an amount that people can afford to pay. The book will have to be reduced to 200 pages. The whole town was reduced to ashes in the bombing. 2) to bring or get to a certain condi­tion: The new teacher was quickly able to reduce the noisy class to si­lence. Hunger had reduced the poor dog to skin and bone. His oppo­nent's clever speech reduced the speaker's argument to nonsense.

to reduce by / to. We have been able to reduce our tax bill by 10%. The price of the chair has been reduced to $ 10.

to reduce someone to tears to make someone weep. You may choose to scold this child, but there's no need to reduce him to tears.

Syn. decrease, lessen, diminish, abate, dwindle

reduction n reducing or being reduced. The goods are sold at a great reduction in price.

Syn. discount