moves

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of move.

   She weighed all her possible moves before committing to a plan.

   The general studied the enemy's recent moves along the border.

   Note

   An ordinary -s plural that keeps every countable meaning of the singular: steps in a plan, practiced actions in sport or self-defense, changes of house, changes of employer. Context decides which one is meant, since a series of clever moves and two moves in three years count very different things. The same spelling also serves as the verb's present-tense form. A determiner such as her or the before it marks the noun.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of move.

   The company moves its headquarters downtown next spring.

   Sunlight shifts as the earth moves around the sun.

   Note

   A present-tense form that works with or without an object: the earth moves, and she moves the furniture. Because the verb is ergative, the same thing can be the mover or the moved. The piece moves, or the player moves the piece. It also covers being stirred to act. A speech that moves a crowd influences it rather than relocating it.

3. 3
   nounplural

   A natural talent or skill for dancing well.

   The new hire turned out to have surprising moves once the music started.

   Everyone cleared the floor to watch her show off her moves.

   Similarskills

   Note

   Only the plural carries this meaning: someone has moves, never a move. It usually arrives with have or have got and a word of praise, as in good moves or seriously good moves. It grew out of the countable sense of a practiced step in dance, which belongs to the ordinary plural. Here, though, the steps add up to a talent rather than a list.

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