- frame
- [[t]fre͟ɪm[/t]]
♦♦♦frames, framing, framed1) N-COUNT The frame of a picture or mirror is the wood, metal, or plastic that is fitted around it, especially when it is displayed or hung on a wall.
Estelle kept a photograph of her mother in a silver frame on the kitchen mantelpiece.
...a pair of picture frames.
2) N-COUNT The frame of an object such as a building, chair, or window is the arrangement of wooden, metal, or plastic bars between which other material is fitted, and which give the object its strength and shape.He supplied housebuilders with modern timber frames...
With difficulty he released the mattress from the metal frame, and groped beneath it...
We painted our table to match the window frame in the bedroom.
3) N-COUNT: usu pl The frames of a pair of glasses are all the metal or plastic parts of it, but not the lenses.He was wearing new spectacles with gold wire frames.
4) N-COUNT: oft poss N You can refer to someone's body as their frame, especially when you are describing the general shape of their body.Their belts are pulled tight against their bony frames.
5) N-COUNT A frame of cinema film is one of the many separate photographs that it consists of.Standard 8mm projects at 16 frames per second.
6) ADJ: ADJ n A frame building is one in which pieces of wood form the most important part of the structure, rather than bricks or stone. [AM]He lives in a white-painted frame house behind a picket fence up in Connecticut.
7) VERB: usu passive When a picture or photograph is framed, it is put in a frame.[be V-ed] The picture is now ready to be mounted and framed...
[V-ed] On the wall is a large framed photograph.
8) VERB: usu passive If an object is framed by a particular thing, it is surrounded by that thing in a way that makes the object more striking or attractive to look at.[be V-ed prep] The swimming pool is framed by tropical gardens...
[be V-ed prep] An elegant occasional table is framed in the window.
9) VERB If someone frames something such as a set of rules, a plan, or a system, they create and develop it. [WRITTEN][V n] After the war, a convention was set up to frame a constitution.
Syn:10) VERB If someone frames something in a particular style or kind of language, they express it in that way.[be V-ed prep/adv] The story is framed in a format that is part thriller, part love story...
[V n n] He framed this question three different ways in search of an answer. [Also V n prep/adv]
11) VERB If someone frames an innocent person, they make other people think that that person is guilty of a crime, by lying or inventing evidence. [INFORMAL][V n] I need to find out who tried to frame me...
[V n] He claimed that he had been framed by the police.
12) PHRASE If someone is in the frame for something such as a job or position, they are being considered for it.We need a win to keep us in the frame for the title.
Syn:in the running13) → See also cold frame
English dictionary. 2008.
