carry

To hold something and take it from one place to another.

• Can you carry this bag?
• She carried the baby upstairs.
• We are carrying the chairs into the garden.

How to use it: carry someone/something to somewhere (He carried the box to the kitchen.)

Similar words: take, bear

Common phrases: carry a bag, carry something upstairs, carry someone home

If a vehicle does this, it takes people or things from one place to another.

• This bus carries fifty people.
• The ship carried food to the island.
• How much cargo can the plane carry?

How to use it: carry someone/something to somewhere (The ferry carries passengers to the island.)

Similar words: transport, take

Common phrases: carry passengers, carry cargo, carry goods

To have something with you when you go somewhere.

• I never carry cash.
• She always carries her phone with her.
• Are visitors allowed to carry cameras inside?

Similar words: have with you

Common phrases: carry cash, carry a phone, carry a weapon

To provide a path along which water, electricity, or something else moves.

• The wire carries electricity.
• A narrow channel carries water into the lake.
• This cable carries the signal to your television.

How to use it: carry something to somewhere (These pipes carry water to the village.)

Similar words: conduct, convey

Common phrases: carry water, carry electricity, carry a signal

If air or water does this, it moves something along with it.

• The river carries leaves downstream.
• A strong wind carried the seeds across the field.
• The waves carried our boat towards the rocks.

How to use it: carry something away (The wind carried the smoke away.)

Similar words: sweep, take

Common phrases: carry something away, carry leaves, carry something downstream

To have a particular quality, importance, risk, or effect.

• His opinion carries weight.
• This treatment carries a small risk.
• The job carries a great deal of responsibility.

Similar words: have, possess

Common phrases: carry weight, carry a risk, carry a penalty

A play in American football in which a player runs while holding the ball.

• He gained ten yards on his first carry.
• The running back had twenty carries today.
• Her average was five yards per carry.

Similar words: rush

Common phrases: a single carry, yards per carry

A method of holding and moving a person who cannot walk or needs help.

• We practised a shoulder carry.
• The rescue team used a two-person carry for the injured climber.
• This carry keeps the patient’s head supported.

Common phrases: shoulder carry, two-person carry