32
SUBSENSE:
Economics the desire of purchasers, consumers, clients,
employers, etc., for a particular commodity, service, or other
Item:
EXAMPLE: a recent slump in demand.
(c) other extension or shift in meaning, retaining one or more
elements of the core sense,
e.g.,
HEADWORD: bamboo
CORE SENSE: a giant woody grass that grows chiefly in the tropics, where it is
widely cultivated.
SUBSENSE: the hollow jointed stem of this plant, used as a cane or to make
furniture and implements:
EXAMPLE: [as adj.] a bamboo serving tray.
HEADWORD: management
CORE SENSE: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people:
EXAMPLE: the management of elk herds.
SUBSENSE:
Medicine & Psychiatry the treatment or control of diseases,
injuries, or disorders, or the care of patients who suffer from
them:
EXAMPLE: the use of combination chemotherapy in the management of
breast cancer.
HEADWORD: mandarin
CORE SENSE: an official in any of the nine top grades of the former imperial
Chinese civil service.
SUBSENSE: a powerful official or senior bureaucrat, esp. one perceived as
reactionary and secretive:
EXAMPLE: a civil service mandarin
Many entries have just one core sense. However some entries are more complex
and have different strands of meaning, each constituting a core sense. In this case,
each core sense is introduced by a bold sense number, and each potentially has its
own block of subsenses relating to it.
(a) figurative extension of the core sense,
e.g.,
HEADWORD: backbone
CORE SENSE: the series of vertebrae extending from the skull to the pelvis;
the spine.
SUBSENSE:
figurative the chief support of a system or organization; the
mainstay:
EXAMPLE: these firms are the backbone of our industrial sector.
HEADWORD: bankrupt
CORE SENSE: (of a person or organization) declared in law unable to pay
outstanding debts:
EXAMPLE: the company was declared bankrupt.
SUBSENSE:
figurative completely lacking in a particular quality or value:
EXAMPLE: their cause is morally bankrupt.
(b) specialized case of the core sense,
e.g.,
HEADWORD: zone
CORE SENSE: [usu. with adj.] an area or stretch of land having a particular
characteristic, purpose, or use, or subject to particular
restrictions:
EXAMPLE: a pedestrian zone.
SUBSENSE:
Geography a well-defined region extending around the earth
between definite limits, esp. between two parallels of latitude:
EXAMPLE: a zone of easterly winds.
SUBSENSE:
Sports in basketball, football, and hockey, a specific area of the
court, field, or rink, esp. one to be defended by a particular
player, or the mode of defensive play using this system.
HEADWORD: demand
CORE SENSE: an insistent and peremptory request, made as if by right:
EXAMPLE: a series of
demands for
far-reaching reforms.
