English Test 1
You scored %%SCORE%% out of %%TOTAL%%.
Your performance has been rated as %%RATING%%
adapter or adaptor:
a couple of samples:
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#4
 17th May 2006, 06:44 AM |
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Re: Adaptor vs. Adapter
Miss Judi,
I would have agreed with your initial definitions. But, I just looked up both words in 3 different dictionaries (not believing the first 2!). Your Wiki definition is absolutely correct. For the device, one can use either adaptor or adapter. BUT, for the person, the human being who adapts a novel into a filmscript or a a musician who adapts a composition for particular voices or instruments or for another style of performance, the only acceptable spelling is adapter (which is completely counter-intuitive). I would have bet that, like sculptor and actor, the -or ending suggested a person. But, instead, it appears to follow the “painter” model! Who knew? |
[or please visit: http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=151674 for different opinions.]
And, according to Wikipedia: “Both spellings are used in both British and American English. According to all major US dictionaries (listed first below) the spelling adapter is more common in American English. Only a few UK dictionaries (listed below) consider adapter more common, most UK dictionaries – including Chambers, Collins and the OED – list adaptor first.”
[or visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapter.]
regent
the Regent of Liechtenstein, prince Alois
a person who governs (takes care of the administrative responsibilities) in place of a king or ruling queen when he or she is not able to do so, because of illness or absence or because he/she is still a child;
(old usage) a senior member of staff or an administrator of a university;
(in American and Canadian usage) a member of the board that manages a college or school,
the appointed Regent of Malaysian state of Terngganu, Tengku Muhammad Faris Petra
When the King was a child, his uncle was appointed regent.
At present there are only two regencies in the world: one is Liechtenstein, ruled by the Regent Prince Alois, and the other is the Malaysian state of Terengganu, governed by newly appointed Regent Tengku Muhammad Faris.
refugee:
(plural: ‘refugees‘; pronunciation: the letter ‘g’ is said with a ‘j’ sound as in “judge”)
refugees fleeing their homes
a person who leaves/runs away from his/her native land/country to another place or foreign country for safety in times of war, religious or political troubles, and is unwilling or unable to return to his/her own home later; an exile; an asylum seeker;
a person who is forced to leave his/her home town in order to escape danger or trouble because of some natural disaster or political disturbance; a displaced person,
refugees at a refugee camp
When there were political disturbances in Rwanda, thousands of refugees from Rwanda fled/ran away to Uganda, and some international organisations set up several refugee camps to give them protection and food.
In Africa in 2004, Taiwan, along with several other countries, donated large sums of money to support Chad in resettling refugees from Darfur region of Sudan.
reformer:
(also ‘social reformer‘, ‘reformist‘, ‘crusader‘; plural: ‘reformers‘)
a person who wants and tries to bring about changes in social, religious and political systems, usually questioning and challenging the age-old traditions and beliefs and suggesting more useful and suitable methods, to make the lives of ordinary people better,
a great Indian social, religious and educational reformer (Raja Ram Mohan Roy — 1772 – 1833)
There are different types of reformers: religious reformers who want to change the way religion is preached; political reformers who want to improve the present political system — in the way elections are conducted, committees are formed, laws are made, corruption is addressed, etc.; social reformers who want to remove the evils and crime from the face of the world, to better the lives of the down-trodden and the aged, to give equal rights to women and to safeguard the children, etc.
Most of the reformers are either laughed at, opposed or ignored and very few reformers are able to reach their goals because those people who benefit from the present corrupt and evil systems do not let the reformers have their own way.
a great Christian religious reformer (Martin Luther King, Sr. — 1483 – 1546)
refiner:
(plural: ‘refiners‘)
a refiner at work
a person whose job is to refine something;
a person who operates some machine or device, also called a ‘refiner’, that is used in refining something,
a refiner (person/worker) with a wood pulp refiner (machine/device)
Her elder brother was a sugar refiner, working at a nearby sugar refinery.
She is such a refiner that she can refine any indecent fellow.
an oil refinery
referee:
(plural: ‘referees‘)
the referee showing two yellow cards to player who have fouled in a football/soccer match
(in sports) (also in short: ‘ref‘) a person who knows the rules and regulations of a sport and who supervises and decides which player is right and which player is wrong, who got a point and when to begin or stop a game; an umpire;
(in general) a person who is asked or referred to for his/her opinion, decision, etc. in disputes in which two or more parties are involved;
the referee of a boxing match, separating aggressive fighters
(in law) a lawyer/attorney who is appointed by a court of law to find out the truth about someone or something by inquiring or investigating and to make a report on them; an arbitrator;
(less commonly) a person whose job is to read a story or novel and to decide whether the story is good for publication; a reviewer; a reader,
In the game of football, the person who judges the play is called a referee and in the game of cricket, he/she is called an umpire.
The referee has the final say in deciding which boxer has made a foul or which boxer has won the match.
a court referee (L) taking oath of office before a judge (R)
[For an interesting article on 'court referee', you may visit: http://www.emmetcounty.org/circuit-court-referee-442/.]
Red Indian:
(also ‘Native American‘, ‘American Indian‘, ‘Indian‘; plural: ‘Red Indians‘)
a Red Indian chief
a person belonging to the native people living in North America when the settlers from Europe arrived there,
a Red Indian family at their home, the tee pee
Red Indians were the first people to live in North America, and they were not called Red Indians because of their skin colour, but because of the red war paint they used on their bodies when they went out, especially when they fought battles with other tribes.
The tent-like or hut-like house of a Red Indian is called a tee pee.
redhead:
(also ‘ginger‘, ‘carrottop‘, ‘titian‘, ‘redheader‘; plural: ‘redheads‘; pronunciation: ‘red … head’)
a person with natural red hair on his/her head (not exactly ‘red’ but ‘burnt orange’ to ‘copper’ colour),
a female redhead
Rita is a redhead.
It’s interesting to know that in Australian slang a redhead is called a ‘bluey’ or ‘blue’!
According to Wikipedia, about 4% of the Europeans are redheads.
a male redhead
redcoat:
(also ‘lobsterback‘; plural: ‘redcoats‘; pronunciation: ‘red … coat’)
18th century redcoats reenactment
(in the past — between 17th and 20th centuries) a British soldier, especially a British soldier in active service during the American Revolution,
A British soldier during the American Revolution was called a redcoat because of the red uniform jacket/coat he wore.
The Redcoats, loyal to the British Empire who also called themselves ‘loyalists’, fought against the colonists, also known as Patriots, who wanted freedom from the British rule in America.
Redcoats in a battle
