carry

[[t]kæ̱ri[/t]]

♦

carries, carrying, carried

1) VERB If you carry something, you take it with you, holding it so that it does not touch the ground.

[V n] He was carrying a briefcase...

[V n prep/adv] He carried the plate through to the dining room...

[V n prep/adv] She carried her son to the car...

[V n prep/adv] If your job involves a lot of paperwork, you're going to need something to carry it all in.

2) VERB If you carry something, you have it with you wherever you go.

[V n] You have to carry a bleeper so that they can call you in at any time.

3) VERB If something carries a person or thing somewhere, it takes them there.

[V n adv/prep] Flowers are designed to attract insects which then carry the pollen from plant to plant...

[V n adv/prep] The delegation was carrying a message of thanks to President Mubarak...

[V n] The ship could carry seventy passengers.

Syn:

transport

4) VERB If a person or animal is carrying a disease, they are infected with it and can pass it on to other people or animals.

[V n] The official number of people carrying the AIDS virus is low...

[V n] Frogs eat pests which destroy crops and carry diseases.

5) VERB: no passive, no cont If an action or situation has a particular quality or consequence, you can say that it carries it.

[V n] Check that any medication you're taking carries no risk for your developing baby...

[V n] Individualism, and the breakdown of social harmony, had a constructive purpose. But they also carried a price.

6) VERB If a quality or advantage carries someone into a particular position or through a difficult situation, it helps them to achieve that position or deal with that situation.

[V n prep/adv] He had the ruthless streak necessary to carry him into the Cabinet...

[V n prep/adv] The warmth and strength of their relationship carried them through difficult times.

7) VERB If you carry an idea or a method to a particular extent, you use or develop it to that extent.

[V n prep/adv] It's not such a new idea, but I carried it to extremes...

[V n prep/adv] We could carry that one step further by taking the same genes and putting them into another crop.

Syn:

take

8) VERB If a newspaper or poster carries a picture or a piece of writing, it contains it or displays it.

[V n] Several papers carry the photograph of Mr Anderson.

9) VERB: usu passive In a debate, if a proposal or motion is carried, a majority of people vote in favour of it.

[be V-ed] A motion backing its economic policy was carried by 322 votes to 296.

10) VERB: no cont If a crime carries a particular punishment, a person who is found guilty of that crime will receive that punishment.

[V n] It was a crime of espionage and carried the death penalty.

11) VERB If a sound carries, it can be heard a long way away.

[V adv] Even in this stillness Leaphorn doubted if the sound would carry far. [Also V]

12) VERB: no passive If a candidate or party carries a state or area, they win the election in that state or area. [AM]

[V n] George W. Bush carried the state with 56 percent of the vote.

(in BRIT, usually use take)

13) VERB If you carry yourself in a particular way, you walk and move in that way.

[V pron-refl prep/adv] They carried themselves with great pride and dignity.

14) VERB: usu cont If a woman is carrying a child, she is pregnant. [OLD-FASHIONED]

[V n] There are many theories that claim to be able to predict whether you're carrying a boy or a girl.

15) PHRASE: V inflects If you get carried away or are carried away, you are so eager or excited about something that you do something hasty or foolish.

I got completely carried away and almost cried.

Syn:

lose control

Ant:

keep control

16) PHRASE: V inflects If a person or team carries all before them, they succeed very easily.

In the formative years their alliance carried all before it.

17) to carry the can → see can

to carry conviction → see conviction

to carry the day → see day

to carry weight → see weight

Phrasal Verbs:

- carry off

- carry on

- carry out

- carry over

- carry through