engage or engross the interest or attention of beforehand or occupy urgently or obsessively; "His work preoccupies him"; "The matter preoccupies her completely--she cannot think of anything else"
occupy or take possession of beforehand or before another or appropriate for use in advance; "the army preoccupied the hills"
giving careful attention to detail; hard to please; excessively concerned with cleanliness; "a fastidious and incisive intellect"; "fastidious about personal cleanliness"
having complicated nutritional requirements; especially growing only in special artificial cultures; "fastidious microorganisms"; "certain highly specialized xerophytes are extremely exacting in their requirements"
crowded with or characterized by much activity; "a very busy week"; "a busy life"; "a busy street"; "a busy seaport"
actively or fully engaged or occupied; "busy with her work"; "a busy man"; "too busy to eat lunch"; "the line is busy"
(of facilities such as telephones or lavatories) unavailable for use by anyone else or indicating unavailability; (`engaged' is a British term for a busy telephone line); "her line is busy"; "receptionists' telephones are always engaged"; "the lavatory is in use"; "kept getting a busy signal"
overcrowded or cluttered with detail; "a busy painting"; "a fussy design"
keep busy with; "She busies herself with her butterfly collection"
the work of cleansing (usually with soap and water)
any enterprise in which losses and gains cancel out; "at the end of the year the accounting department showed that it was a wash"
a watercolor made by applying a series of monochrome washes one over the other
a thin coat of water-base paint
the dry bed of an intermittent stream (as at the bottom of a canyon)
to cleanse (itself or another animal) by licking; "The cat washes several times a day"
cleanse (one's body) with soap and water
form by erosion; "The river washed a ravine into the mountainside"
remove by the application of water or other liquid and soap or some other cleaning agent; "he washed the dirt from his coat"; "The nurse washed away the blood"; "Can you wash away the spots on the windows?"; "he managed to wash out the stains"
apply a thin coating of paint, metal, etc., to
clean with some chemical process
cleanse with a cleaning agent, such as soap, and water; "Wash the towels, please!"
separate dirt or gravel from (precious minerals)
move by or as if by water; "The swollen river washed away the footbridge"
admit to testing or proof; "This silly excuse won't wash in traffic court"
be capable of being washed; "Does this material wash?"
washing yourself by standing upright under water sprayed from a nozzle; "he took a shower after the game"
a plumbing fixture that sprays water over you; "they installed a shower in the bathroom"
a sudden downpour (as of tears or sparks etc) likened to a rain shower; "a little shower of rose petals"; "a sudden cascade of sparks"
a party of friends assembled to present gifts (usually of a specified kind) to a person; "her friends organized a baby shower for her when she was expecting"
a brief period of precipitation; "the game was interrupted by a brief shower"
take a shower; wash one's body in the shower; "You should shower after vigorous exercise"
provide abundantly with; "He showered her with presents"
spray or sprinkle with; "The guests showered rice on the couple"
rain abundantly; "Meteors showered down over half of Australia"
completely neat and clean; "the apartment was immaculate"; "in her immaculate white uniform"; "a spick-and-span kitchen"; "their spic red-visored caps"
primitive multicellular marine animal whose porous body is supported by a fibrous skeletal framework; usually occurs in sessile colonies
a porous mass of interlacing fibers the forms the internal skeleton of various marine animals and usable to absorb water or any porous rubber or cellulose product similarly used