(grammar) A tense used in some languages (such as French and Italian) in narrative, and in spoken language primarily when reading narrative or in storytelling, for completed actions in the past or in speaking of the dead. It is semantically the same as the simple past in many languages, including English.

A voting system where the candidate with the most votes (a plurality) wins, without any form of preference transfer.

(colloquial, idiomatic) Something or someone that a person has not seen for a long time and that which evokes nostalgic feelings.

(idiomatic, US) To attempt to stay cheerful in a dire situation; to proceed with a task, ignoring an upcoming hazard, hoping for a good outcome.

(grammar) A tense that expresses an unbroken action continuing up to a certain time in the past. In English it is formed by using had been with a present participle.

past perfect continuous

A grammatical tense which expresses the past as an action which was still going on at the point in time described, say someone "was ...ing" something, as opposed to the already accomplished counterpart past perfect tense (where the action took place even further in the past)

present participle of sell past the close

simple past tense and past participle of sell past the close

To continue trying to convince a customer of the benefits of making a purchase after the customer has already decided to make that purchase; to oversell.