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spell
spell
The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English
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2009
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© The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English 2009, originally published by Oxford University Press 2009. (Hide copyright information)
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spell1
/ spel/
•
v.
(past and past part. spelled
/ speld/ or chiefly Brit. spelt
/ spelt/ ) [tr.]
write or name the letters that form (a word) in correct sequence:
Dolly spelled her name |
[intr.]
journals have a house style about how to spell.
∎
(of letters) make up or form (a word):
the letters spell the word “how.”
∎
be recognizable as a sign or characteristic of:
she had the chic, efficient look that spells Milan.
∎
lead to:
the plans would spell disaster for the economy.
PHRASAL VERBS:
spell something out
speak the letters that form a word in sequence.
∎
explain something in detail:
I'll spell out the problem again.
spell2
•
n.
a form of words used as a magical charm or incantation.
∎
a state of enchantment caused by such a form of words:
the magician may cast a spell on himself.
∎
an ability to control or influence people as though one had magical power over them:
she is afraid that you are waking from her spell.
PHRASES:
under a spell
not fully in control of one's thoughts and actions, as though in a state of enchantment.
under someone's spell
so devoted to someone that they seem to have magic power over one.
spell3
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n.
a short period:
I want to get away from racing for a spell.
∎
a period spent in an activity:
a spell of greenhouse work.
∎
a period of a specified kind of weather:
an early cold spell in autumn.
∎
a period of suffering from a specified kind of illness:
she plunges off a yacht and suffers a spell of amnesia.
∎ Austral.
a period of rest from work.
•
v. [tr.]
allow (someone) to rest briefly by taking their place in some activity:
I got sleepy and needed her to spell me for a while at the wheel.
∎ [intr.] Austral.
take a brief rest:
I'll spell for a bit.
Cite this article
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Spell Capital acquires Victor Plastics.
Magazine article from: Plastics News; 3/22/2004; 700+ words
; ...by plastics industry executive Bill Spell has acquired injection molder Victor Plastics Inc. of Victor, Iowa. For Spell Capital Partners LLC, the March 12...comfortable in the plastics industry,'' Spell, the equity firm's president, said...
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Uninsured spells of the poor: prevalence and duration.(Innovations in Fee-For-Service Financing and Delivery)
Magazine article from: Health Care Financing Review; 9/22/1997; ; 700+ words
; ...poverty and uninsured spells or on the relationship between uninsured spell durations and health...the likelihood that a spell would end. Although...duration of new uninsured spells, subsequent studies have focused on uninsured spell durations from different...
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This Spells Trubble; Can't get the word right? It's a corporate plot
Newspaper article from: The Washington Post; 5/4/2008; ; 700+ words
; DID YOU KNOW Americans can't spell competently? It's true. They spell it "competantly." Ha-ha. But, seriously, we don't know how to spell, and this deficiency is getting worse. A few weeks ago, a study came out showing that a...
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Breath-Holding Spells and Iron Deficiency.
Newspaper article from: Family Practice Alert; 12/1/1999; 700 words
; ...observation of the spells. Spells are usually defined as stopping...inspiration during crying. Spells are classified as cyanotic...the patients skin during the spell. It has been estimated that...experience breath-holding spells..sup.1 The cause of breath...
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COLUMN: Spell-checkers enable the grammatically challenged
News Wire article from: University Wire; 10/4/2005; ; 700+ words
; ...would suppose it doesn't matter if a person can spell on paper since most work is typed on a computer and proofread by a word-processor's spell-check tool. Before the advent of spell-checkers, people relied on dictionaries when...
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Breath-holding spells in toddlers.(Disease/Disorder overview)
Newspaper article from: Pediatrics for Parents; 7/1/2007; ; 700+ words
; ...witnessed one breathholding spell, often they can predict...first breath holding spell occurs, a doctor should...child. Breath-holding spells share some features in...indeed a breath-holding spell, your child may be checked...and breath-holding spells, and treating the anemia...
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The effectiveness of word processor spell checker programs to produce target words for misspellings generated by students with learning disabilities
Magazine article from: Journal of Special Education Technology; 4/1/2001; ; 700+ words
; This study investigated spell check programs to determine how they differ in producing target...with learning disabilities, grades three through eight, were spell checked by the spell check function of nine word processing software programs...
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Breath-holding spells in toddlers.
Newspaper article from: Pediatrics for Parents; 6/1/2007; ; 700+ words
; ...one breath-holding spell, often they can predict...first breath-holding spell occurs, a pediatrician...child. Breath-holding spells share some features in...indeed a breath-holding spell, your child may be checked...and breath-holding spells, and treating the anemia...
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A Review of Spell
Magazine article from: Iowa Review; 10/1/2005; ; 700+ words
; A Review of Spell by Dan Beachy-Quick (Ahsahta Press...so enchanted by Dan Beachy-Quick's Spell. Beachy-Quick expresses an awareness...dumbness, is a reliable rudder through Spell's waters. By Melville's accomplishment...
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Teaching tots: Beverly Spell introduces ballet with imagery and stories--and a sequential lesson plan.
Magazine article from: Dance Magazine; 5/1/2007; ; 700+ words
; ...morning knees!" sings out Beverly F. Spell as she and her students bend over to...taking place at The Ballet Studio, Spell's dance establishment in Milton, Louisiana. On one Thursday in February Spell, 48, gently and decisively guided...
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spell
Book article from: The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English
...have a house style about how to spell. ∎ (of...form (a word): the letters spell the word “how...the chic, efficient look that spells Milan. ∎ lead to: the plans would spell disaster for the economy. PHRASAL...
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Spells
Encyclopedia entry from: Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology
...taught. The power of a spell remained until it was...antidote or exorcism. Spells belong to what modern...some minor end, love-spells, or the curing of persons...animals. Protective Spells The protective spell commonly appeared as...
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Breath Holding Spells
Encyclopedia entry from: Gale Encyclopedia of Children's Health: Infancy through Adolescence
...children have two to five spells daily whereas another...children average one spell per month. It is not...age of two with daily spells may have learned that...tantrum can trigger a spell. If past breath holding spells have earned children...
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Buchan spells
Book article from: A Dictionary of Ecology
Buchan spells Several periods of the year, ‘more or less well defined’, when the normal seasonal rise or fall of temperature...
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PW Eagle, Inc.
Book article from: International Directory of Company Histories
...Eugene, Oregon, while CEO William H. Spell oversees the company from its corporate...The largest shareholder in the company is Spell Capital Partners, a small private equity...and in 1992 brought in four members of Spell Capital Partners as directors. William...
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