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Definition of Us - 22 dictionary results

us

[uhs]
–pronoun
1. the objective case of we, used as a direct or indirect object: They took us to the circus. She asked us the way.
2. Informal. (used in place of the pronoun we in the predicate after the verb to be): It's us!
3. Informal. (used instead of the pronoun our before a gerund): She graciously forgave us spilling the gravy on the tablecloth.

Origin:
bef. 900; ME, OE; c. G, Goth uns


2, 3. See me.

US

1. United States.
2. United States highway (used with a number): US 66.

U.S.

1. Uncle Sam.
2. United Service.
3. United States.

u.s.

1. where mentioned above. Origin:
< L ubi suprā
2. as above: a formula in judicial acts, directing that what precedes be reviewed.

Origin:
< L ut suprā

U, u

[yoo]
–noun, plural U's or Us, u's or us.
1. the 21st letter of the English alphabet, a vowel.
2. any spoken sound represented by the letter U or u, as in music, rule, curious, put, or jug.
3. something having the shape of a U.
4. a written or printed representation of the letter U or u.
5. a device, as a printer's type, for reproducing the letter U or u.

we

[wee]
–plural pronoun, possessive our or ours, objective us.
1. nominative pl. of I.
2. (used to denote oneself and another or others): We have two children. In this block we all own our own houses.
3. (used to denote people in general): the marvels of science that we take for granted.
4. (used to indicate a particular profession, nationality, political party, etc., that includes the speaker or writer): We in the medical profession have moral responsibilities.
5. Also called the royal we. (used by a sovereign, or by other high officials and dignitaries, in place of I in formal speech): We do not wear this crown without humility.
6. Also called the editorial we. (used by editors, writers, etc., to avoid the too personal or specific I or to represent a collective viewpoint): As for this column, we will have nothing to do with shady politicians.
7. you (used familiarly, often with mild condescension or sarcasm, as in addressing a child, a patient, etc.): We know that's naughty, don't we? It's time we took our medicine.
8. (used in the predicate following a copulative verb): It is we who should thank you.
9. (used in apposition with a noun, esp. for emphasis): We Americans are a sturdy lot.

Origin:
bef. 900; ME, OE wē; c. D wij, G wir, ON vēr, Goth weis

I

[ahy] pronoun, nominative I, possessive my or mine, objective me; plural nominative we, possessive our or ours, objective us; noun, plural I's.
–pronoun
1. the nominative singular pronoun, used by a speaker in referring to himself or herself.
–noun
2. (used to denote the narrator of a literary work written in the first person singular).
3. Metaphysics. the ego.

Origin:
bef. 900; ME ik, ich, i; OE ic, ih; c. G ich, ON ek, L ego, Gk eg, OCS azŭ, Lith aš, Skt ahám


See me.

U

[oo] ,
–noun
a Burmese title of respect applicable to a man: used before the proper name.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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u 1 or U   (yōō)   
n.   pl. u's or U's also us or Us
  1. The 21st letter of the modern English alphabet.

  2. Any of the speech sounds represented by the letter u.

  3. The 21st in a series.

  4. Something shaped like the letter U.

  5. U A grade that indicates an unsatisfactory status.

United States or United States of America Abbr. U.S. or US or U.S.A. or USA  


(click for larger image in new window)
A country of central and northwest North America with coastlines on the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It includes the noncontiguous states of Alaska and Hawaii and various island territories in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. The area now occupied by the contiguous 48 states was originally inhabited by numerous Native American peoples and was colonized beginning in the 16th century by Spain, France, the Netherlands, and England. Great Britain eventually controlled most of the Atlantic coast and, after the French and Indian Wars (1754-1763), the Northwest Territory and Canada. The original Thirteen Colonies declared their independence from Great Britain in 1776 and formed a government under the Articles of Confederation in 1781, adopting (1787) a new constitution that went into effect after 1789. The nation soon began to expand westward. Growing tensions over the issue of Black slavery divided the country along geographic lines, sparking the secession of the South and the Civil War (1861-1865). The remainder of the 19th century was marked by increased westward expansion, industrialization, and the influx of millions of immigrants. The United States entered World War II after the Japanese attack (1941) on Pearl Harbor and emerged after the war as a world power. Washington, D.C., is the capital and New York the largest city. Population: 302,000,000.
us   (ŭs)   
pron.   The objective form of we.
  1. Used as the direct object of a verb: She saw us on the subway.

  2. Used as the indirect object of a verb: They offered us free tickets to the show.

  3. Used as the object of a preposition: This letter is addressed to us.

  4. Informal Used as a predicate nominative: It's us. See Usage Note at we.

  5. Nonstandard Used reflexively as the indirect object of a verb: We decided to get us another car. See Note at me.


[Middle English, from Old English ūs; see nes-2 in Indo-European roots.]
U.S. or US  
abbr.  
  1. Uncle Sam

  2. Uniform System (of lens aperture)

  3. United States

  4. United States highway

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Word Origin & History

us 
O.E. us (cognate with O.S., O.Fris. us, O.N., Swed. oss), accusative and dative pl. of we, from PIE *ns- (cf. Skt. nas, Avestan na, Hittite nash "us;" Gk. no "we two;" L. nos "we, us;" O.C.S. ny "us," nasu "our;" O.Ir. ni, Welsh ni "we, us"). The -n- is preserved in Gmc. in Du. ons, Ger. uns.

we 
O.E. we, from P.Gmc. *wiz (cf. O.S. wi, O.N. ver, Dan. vi, O.Fris. wi, Du. wij, O.H.G., Ger. wir, Goth. weis "we"), from PIE *wei- (cf. Skt. vayam, O.Pers. vayam, Hitt. wesh "we," O.C.S. ve "we two," Lith. vedu "we two"). The "royal we" (use of plural pronoun to denote oneself) is at least as old as "Beowulf" (c.725); use by writers to establish an impersonal style is also from O.E.; it was especially common 19c. in unsigned editorials, to suggest staff consensus, and was lampooned as such since at least 1853 (cf. also wegotism).

u 
for historical evolution, see V. Used punningly for you by 1588 ["Love's Labour's Lost," V.i.60], not long after the pronunciation shift that made the vowel a homonym of the pronoun. As a simple shorthand (without intentional word-play), it is recorded from 1862. Common in business abbreviations since 1923 (e.g. U-Haul, attested from 1951).

U.S. 
abbreviation for United States, attested from 1834.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Financial Dictionary

u

Used in the daily or weekly high column of stock transaction tables in newspapers to indicate that the price of a security has reached a new 52-week high: u75.

Wall Street Words: An A to Z Guide to Investment Terms by David L. Scott.
Copyright © 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: U
Function: symbol
uranium
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

U 3

The symbol for the element uranium.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Computing Dictionary

US
Unit Separator

us networking
The country code for the United States.
Usually used only by schools, libraries, and some state and local governments. Other US sites, and many international ones, use the non-national top-level domains .com, .edu etc.
(1999-01-27)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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Abbreviations & Acronyms
US
  1. ultrasound

  2. unconditioned stimulus

  3. Uniform System

  4. United States

  5. United States [highway]

The American Heritage® Abbreviations Dictionary, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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