beau|ti|fy /bjuː t I fa I / (beautifies , beautifying , beautified ) VERB If you beautify something, you make it look more beautiful. [FORMAL ] □ [V n] Claire worked to beautify the garden.
beau|ty ◆◇◇ /bjuː ti/ (beauties )
1 N‑UNCOUNT Beauty is the state or quality of being beautiful. □ …an area of outstanding natural beauty. □ Everyone admired her elegance and her beauty.
2 N‑COUNT A beauty is a beautiful woman. [JOURNALISM ] □ She is known as a great beauty.
3 N‑COUNT You can say that something is a beauty when you think it is very good. [INFORMAL ] □ The pass was a real beauty, but the shot was poor.
4 N‑COUNT [usu pl] The beauties of something are its attractive qualities or features. [LITERARY ] □ He was beginning to enjoy the beauties of nature.
5 ADJ [ADJ n] Beauty is used to describe people, products, and activities that are concerned with making women look beautiful. □ Additional beauty treatments can be booked in advance.
6 N‑COUNT If you say that a particular feature is the beauty of something, you mean that this feature is what makes the thing so good. □ There would be no effect on animals–that's the beauty of such water-based materials.
bea u|^ty con|test (beauty contests ) N‑COUNT A beauty contest is a competition in which young women are judged to decide which one is the most beautiful.
bea u|^ty pag|eant (beauty pageants ) N‑COUNT A beauty pageant is the same as a beauty contest . [AM ]
bea u|^ty par|lour (beauty parlours ) in AM, use beauty parlor N‑COUNT A beauty parlour is a place where women can go to have beauty treatments, for example to have their hair, nails or make-up done.
bea u|^ty queen (beauty queens ) N‑COUNT A beauty queen is a woman who has won a beauty contest.
bea u|^ty sa|lon (beauty salons ) N‑COUNT A beauty salon is the same as a beauty parlour .
bea u|^ty shop (beauty shops ) N‑COUNT A beauty shop is the same as a beauty parlour . [AM ]
bea u|^ty spot (beauty spots )
1 N‑COUNT A beauty spot is a place in the country that is popular because of its beautiful scenery. □ The Valley of Vinales is a lush and fertile valley and one of Cuba's finest beauty spots.
2 N‑COUNT A beauty spot is a small, dark spot on the skin which is supposed to add to a woman's beauty.
bea|ver /biː və r / (beavers , beavering , beavered )
1 N‑COUNT A beaver is a furry animal with a big flat tail and large teeth. Beavers use their teeth to cut wood and build dams in rivers.
2 N‑UNCOUNT Beaver is the fur of a beaver. □ …a coat with a huge beaver collar.
▸ beaver away PHRASAL VERB If you are beavering away at something, you are working very hard at it. □ [V P + at/on ] For more than a decade, Avery has been beavering away at an epic project. □ [V P ] They are beavering away to get everything ready for us.
be|bop /biː bɒp/ N‑UNCOUNT Bebop is a form of jazz music with complex harmonies and rhythms. The abbreviation bop is also used.
be|calmed /b I kɑː md/
1 ADJ [usu v-link ADJ ] If a sailing ship is becalmed , it is unable to move because there is no wind. □ We were becalmed off Dungeness for several hours.
2 ADJ If something such as the economy, a company, or a series of talks is becalmed , it is not progressing at all, although it should be. [LITERARY ] □ …the becalmed peace talks.
be|came /b I ke I m/ Became is the past tense of become .
be|cause ◆◆◆ /b I kɒ z, [AM ] b I kɔː z/
1 CONJ You use because when stating the reason for something. □ He is called Mitch, because his name is Mitchell. □ Because it is an area of outstanding natural beauty, you can't build on it. □ 'Why didn't you tell me, Archie?'—'Because you might have casually mentioned it to somebody else.'
2 CONJ You use because when stating the explanation for a statement you have just made. □ Maybe they didn't want to ask questions, because they rented us a room without even asking to see our papers. □ The President has played a shrewd diplomatic game because from the outset he called for direct talks with the United States.
3 PHRASE If an event or situation occurs because of something, that thing is the reason or cause. □ Many families break up because of a lack of money. □ Because of the law in Ireland, we had to work out a way of getting her over to Britain.
4 PHRASE You use just because when you want to say that a particular situation should not necessarily make you come to a particular conclusion. [INFORMAL , SPOKEN ] □ Just because something has always been done a certain way does not make it right.
beck /be k/ PHRASE If one person is at another's beck and call , they have to be constantly available and ready to do whatever is asked, and this often seems unfair or undesirable.
beck|on /be kən/ (beckons , beckoning , beckoned )
1 VERB If you beckon to someone, you signal to them to come to you. □ [V + to ] He beckoned to the waiter. □ [V n adv/prep] I beckoned her over. □ [V n to-inf] Hughes beckoned him to sit down on a sofa. [Also V ]
2 VERB If something beckons , it is so attractive to someone that they feel they must become involved in it. □ [V ] All the attractions of the peninsula beckon. □ [V n] The bright lights of Hollywood beckon many. [Also V + to ]