Advertisement
Advertisement
switch-on
[ swich-on, -awn ]
noun
- the act or process of switching on an ignition, light, appliance, etc.
switch on
verb
- to cause (a device) to operate by or as if by moving a switch, knob, or lever; turn on
- informal.tr to produce (charm, tears, etc) suddenly or automatically
- informal.tr (now slightly dated) to make up-to-date, esp regarding outlook, dress, etc
- slang.tr to arouse emotionally or sexually
- slang.intr to take or become intoxicated by drugs
- slang.tr to introduce (someone) to drugs
Word History and Origins
Origin of switch-on1
Idioms and Phrases
Produce as if operating by a control, as in She switched on the charm as soon as he walked in . [Mid-1900s] Also see switch off .Example Sentences
On one snowy night, the camera in Molly's croft-house automatically switched on, alerting the couple there was a visitor inside.
Instead the family have been asked to switch on the Christmas lights at the hospital at the end of the month.
But after three weeks, specific genes inside these so-called "stem cells" switch on, passing along instructions on how to specialise and clump together to form the various bits of the body.
Once Clipper approaches Europa in 2030 it will switch on its engines again to carefully manoeuvre itself into the right orbit.
It’s still at least seven years before it will be switched on.
Advertisement
Related Words
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Browse