it

it
[[t]ɪt[/t]]
pron. it,
1) fun (used to represent an inanimate thing understood, previously mentioned, about to be mentioned, or present in the immediate context):
It was broken. You can't tell a book by its cover[/ex]
2) fun (used to represent a person or animal understood, previously mentioned, or about to be mentioned whose gender is unknown or disregarded):
Who was it? It was John[/ex]
3) fun (used to represent a group understood or previously mentioned):
The judge told the jury it could recess[/ex]
4) +sts (used to represent a concept or abstract idea understood or previously stated):
It all started with Adam and Eve[/ex]
5) fun (used to represent an action or activity understood, previously mentioned, or about to be mentioned):
Since you don't like it, you don't have to go skiing[/ex]
6) fun (used as the impersonal subject of the verb to be, esp. to refer to time, distance, or the weather):
It is six o'clock. It was foggy[/ex]
7) fun (used in statements expressing an action, condition, fact, circumstance, or situation without reference to an agent):
If it weren't for Edna, I wouldn't go[/ex]
8) fun (used in referring to something as the origin or cause of pain, pleasure, etc.):
Where does it hurt?[/ex]
9) fun (used in referring to a source not specifically named or described):
It is said that love is blind[/ex]
10) fun (used in referring to the general state of affairs or life in general):
How's it going with you?[/ex]
11) fun (used as an anticipatory subject or object to make a sentence more eloquent or suspenseful or to shift emphasis):
It is necessary that you do your duty. It was a gun that he was carrying[/ex]
12) (used in referring to a critical event that has finally happened or is about to happen):
The lights went out. We thought, this is it![/ex]
13) +inf Informal. (used instead of the pronoun its before a gerund or present participle):
It having rained for only one hour didn't help the crops[/ex]
14) gam (in children's games) the player who is to perform some task, as, in tag, the one who must catch the others
15) cvb Slang.
a) a desirable personal attribute
b) sexual intercourse
Etymology: bef. 900; ME, var. of hit, OE, neut. of he I usage: See me

From formal English to slang. 2014.

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