- spell
- {{Roman}}I.{{/Roman}} noun1 period of timeADJECTIVE▪ lengthy (esp. BrE), long, prolonged▪ brief, short▪ five-minute, ten-day, etc. (esp. BrE)▪ good▪ bad▪
He's going through a bit of a bad spell at the moment.
▪ quiet▪ barren, lean (both esp. BrE)▪Viera ended his barren spell with a goal against Parma.
▪ cold, dry, hot, mild, sunny (esp. BrE), warm, wet▪ dizzy, fainting▪The children began having dizzy spells from hunger.
VERB + SPELL▪ go through, havePREPOSITION▪ during a … spell▪She managed to write a letter during a quiet spell at work.
▪ spell as (esp. BrE)▪He had a brief spell as ambassador to Turkey.
PHRASES▪ a spell of … weather (esp. BrE)▪a spell of sunny weather
2 magical effectADJECTIVE▪ magic, magical▪ powerful▪ hypnotic▪the hypnotic spell of the cicadas singing in the trees
VERB + SPELL▪ be under, come under, fall under▪ cast, perform, put, weave▪The witch cast a spell on them.
▪This place had woven its spell over them.
▪ break, remove▪She uttered the magic word, and the spell was broken.
SPELL + NOUN▪ bookPREPOSITION▪ under a/the spell▪Sleeping Beauty was under a spell when the prince found her.
▪ under sb's spell▪{{Roman}}II.{{/Roman}}The audience was completely under his spell.
verbADVERB▪ correctly, right▪ wrongly▪ backwards/backward▪‘Nevaeh’ is ‘heaven’ spelled backwards/backward.
PREPOSITION▪ as▪The article spelled ‘survey’ as ‘servay’.
▪ with▪Is ‘necessary’ spelled with one ‘s’, or two?
PHRASAL VERBspell sth outADVERB▪ clearly▪ explicitly, fully, in detail▪ exactly, precisely▪She spelled out precisely what she wanted.
VERB + SPELL OUT▪ have to, need toPREPOSITION▪ for▪Do I really have to spell it out for you?
▪ to▪His speech spelled out a clear message to the car industry.
Collocations dictionary. 2013.
