To hatch means ‘to break out from an egg,’ as birds do when they are born, ‘to cause to emerge from an egg,’ as birds do by sitting on their eggs to keep them warm until they hatch, and, when we are talking about the egg, ‘to break open to let the baby birds out.’ Figuratively, it also means ‘to plan or bring something forth.’ Unrelatedly, the noun hatch is an opening in a…
Ash is the gray or black powder that remains after a fire and the color that resembles it as well. When volcanos erupt, they throw out pulverized lava and that is also ash. Ashes, always in the plural, are the remains or ruins of something destroyed, usually used figuratively, and also, literally, the mortal remains of a cremated body. Unrelatedly, an ash is any of various trees of…
To cop means ‘to seize’ or ‘get’ and, always followed by out, it means ‘to avoid a responsibility’ or ‘to back out of a promise.” Unrelatedly, you might have heard that cop is an informal word for a police officer and, in this sense, the word is sometimes used figuratively about a person who wants to regulate an activity or behavior. In UK slang, often in the expression “a fair cop,” it means capture and, always in the negative…
To linger means ‘to stay in a place longer than expected’ and also, sometimes followed by on, ‘to remain alive or in existence, but gradually dying or losing strength.’ If you linger over or on something, it means that you take your time over enjoying it or contemplating it. To delay something or to…
You probably know that a boot is a strong, heavy shoe or a rubber shoe, mostly used when it rains, that also covers part of the leg. In US English, a boot is also a metal device attached to the wheel of car to keep it from moving (in UK English, this is called a wheel clamp). In UK English, the boot is the…