verb

plural verbs · alternative vb. · alternative v.

1. grammarA word that indicates an action, event, or state of being.

   The word “speak” is an English verb.

   1 more example

   In ſo moche that if any verbe be of the thyꝛde coniugation / I ſet out all his rotes and tenſes[…]

   1530 July 18, Iohan Palſgrave, “The Introduction”, in Leſclarciſſement de la langue francoyſe […] , London: Richard Pynſon, Iohan Haukyns, →OCLC, page 32; reprinted as Lesclarcissement de la langue françoyse, Genève: Slatkine Reprints, 1972

2. obsoleteAny word; a vocable.

   a Verb of the Singular

   1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London

3. figurativelyAn action as opposed to a trait or thing.

   Kindness is a verb, not an adjective. You're only kind if you do kind things.

4. computingA named command that performs a specific operation on an object.

   You can invoke the Properties OLE verb in many ways. The easiest way is to move the mouse over the border of the control until it becomes only a four-way pointer and then right-click.

   1995, Adam Denning, OLE Controls Inside Out, page 321

   1 more example

   The InfiniBand verbs, which are closely modeled in the “Gen2” interface, provide the functional specification for the operations that should be allowed on an InfiniBand compliant adapter.

   2016, Ada Gavrilovska, Attaining High Performance Communications: A Vertical Approach

present singular third person verbs · participle present verbing · participle past verbed · past verbed · first person past singular verbed · archaic present second person singular verbest · past second person singular verbed · archaic past second person singular verbedst · present singular third person verbs · archaic present singular third person verbeth · past singular third person verbed · past plural verbed · past subjunctive verbed · participle present verbing · participle past verbed · alternative vb.

1. colloquialnonstandardtransitiveTo use any word that is or was not a verb (especially a noun) as if it were a verb.

   Nouns should never be verbed.

   1997, David. F. Griffiths, Desmond J. Higham, learning LAT_EX, page 8

   4 more examples

   Haig, in congressional hearings before his confirmatory, paradoxed his auditioners by abnormalling his responds so that verbs were nouned, nouns verbed and adjectives adverbised. He techniqued a new way to vocabulary his thoughts so as to informationally uncertain anybody listening about what he had actually implicationed... .

   a. 1981 Feb 22, unknown Guardian editor as quoted by William Safire, On Language, in New York Times, pSM3

   I like to verb words.... I take nouns and adjectives and use them as verbs. Remember when "access" was a thing? Now it's something you DO. It got verbed. Verbing weirds language.

   1993 January 25, Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes

   In English, verbing nouns is okay

   2005 October 5, Jeffrey Mattison, “Letters”, in The Christian Science Monitor, page 8

   Records have been broken, races have been dedicated, dreams have been dreamed, starts have been falsed and nouns have been verbed.

   2011 September 1, Harry Pearson, “London 2012 can legacy by verbing the noun”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 22 Sep 2024

2. human sciencesUsed as a placeholder for any verb.

   For example, one-part versions of the proposition "The doctor pursued the lawyer" were "The doctor verbed the object," ...

   1946, Rand Corporation, The Rand Paper Series

   2 more examples

   Each sentence had the same basic structure: The subject transitive verbed the object who intransitive verbed in the location.

   1964, Journal of Mathematical Psychology

   The sentence frame was Dan verbed Ben approaching the store. This sentence frame was followed in all cases by He went inside.

   1998, Marilyn A. Walker, Aravind Krishna Joshi, Centering Theory in Discourse

plural verbs · alternative vb. · alternative v.

1. entertainmentReverb.