Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary

4 ADJ [ADJ n] You use very with certain nouns in order to specify an extreme position or extreme point in time. [EMPHASIS ] □  At the very back of the yard, several feet from Lenny, was a wooden shack. □  I turned to the very end of the book, to read the final words. □  He was wrong from the very beginning. □  We still do not have enough women at the very top.

5 ADJ [ADJ n] You use very with nouns to emphasize that something is exactly the right one or exactly the same one. [EMPHASIS ] □  Everybody says he is the very man for the case. □  She died in this very house.

6 ADJ [ADJ n] You use very with nouns to emphasize the importance or seriousness of what you are saying. [EMPHASIS ] □  At one stage, his very life was in danger. □  This act undermines the very basis of our democracy. □  History is taking place before your very eyes.

7 PHRASE The expression very much so is an emphatic way of answering 'yes' to something or saying that it is true or correct. [EMPHASIS ] □  'Are you enjoying your holiday?'—'Very much so.'

8 CONVENTION Very well is used to say that you agree to do something or you accept someone's answer, even though you might not be completely satisfied with it. [FORMULAE ] □  'We need proof, sir.' Another pause. Then, 'Very well.'. □  Very well, please yourself.

9 PHRASE If you say that you cannot very well do something, you mean that it would not be right or possible to do it. □  He couldn't very well go to her office and force her to write a check. □  I said yes. I can't very well say no. USAGE very

1 Don’t use ‘very’ to say that something happens because someone or something has a quality to an unusually large extent. Don’t say, for example, ‘ He looked very funny that we couldn’t help laughing ’. You say ‘He looked so funny that we couldn’t help laughing’. □  We were so angry that we asked to see the manager.

2 Don’t use ‘very’ with comparatives. Don’t say, for example, ‘ Tom was very quicker than I was ’. Say ‘Tom was much quicker than I was’ or ‘Tom was far quicker than I was’. □  It is much colder than yesterday. □  It is a far better picture than the other one.

3 Don’t say that someone is ‘ very awake ’ or ‘ very asleep ’, or that two things are ‘ very apart ’. Say that they are wide awake , fast asleep , or far apart . □  He was wide awake all night. □  Chris is still fast asleep in the other bed.

ves|pers /ve spə ^r z/ N‑UNCOUNT In some Christian churches, vespers is a service in the evening.

ves|sel ◆◇◇ /ve s ^ə l/ (vessels )

1 N‑COUNT A vessel is a ship or large boat. [FORMAL ] □  …a New Zealand navy vessel.

2 N‑COUNT A vessel is a bowl or other container in which liquid is kept. [FORMAL ]

3 → see also blood vessel

vest /ve st/ (vests , vesting , vested )

1 N‑COUNT A vest is a piece of underwear which you can wear on the top half of your body in order to keep warm. [BRIT ] in AM, use undershirt 2 N‑COUNT A vest is a sleeveless piece of clothing with buttons which people usually wear over a shirt. [AM ] in BRIT, use waistcoat 3 VERB [usu passive] If something is vested in you, or if you are vested with it, it is given to you as a right or responsibility. [FORMAL ] □ [be V -ed + in ] All authority was vested in the woman, who discharged every kind of public duty. □ [be V -ed + with ] The mass media have been vested with significant power in modern societies. □ [V -ed] There's an extraordinary amount of power vested in us.