Intermediate+ Word of the Day: beat

Most commonly, to beat means ‘to strike something or someone repeatedly,’ ‘to smash against,’ and ‘to shape by hitting.’ However, beat also means ‘to stir ingredients vigorously,’ ‘to keep time by strokes,’ ‘to defeat something or someone,’ and, informally, ‘to be better than something or someone.’ Informally, it means ‘to confuse’ and ‘to avoid blame.’ As a noun, a beat is a stroke or blow and the sound it makes, the major rhythm in a music piece and a throbbing or pulsing. As an adjective,…

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Intermediate+ Word of the Day: shake

To shake is ‘to move with short, quick movements or up and down when mixing’ and ‘to tremble,’ literally and figuratively, as with cold or excitement or fear. When we shake hands, we hold someone else’s hand in greeting and move it up and down. Shake, often used with off, also means ‘to get rid of something’ or ‘to cause something to become loose and fall’…

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Intermediate+ Word of the Day: handle

A handle is a part of a thing made to be taken hold of by the hand. Unrelatedly, and colloquially, a handle is somebody’s name (this is especially used for usernames for apps and websites). To handle means…

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