verbals

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of verbal.

   The exercise asked us to underline every one of the verbals in the passage.

   Infinitives, participles, and gerunds are all verbals, each playing a different role.

   Note

   A regular -s plural that serves two quite different countable nouns. In grammar, verbals are the non-finite forms (infinitives, participles, gerunds) that do the work of other parts of speech. In UK and Irish usage, verbals can also be spoken confessions given to police. The banter-or-scolding sense of verbal is uncountable, so strictly it has no plural to share this spelling.

2. 2
   verbAustraliaBritish

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of verbal.

   The defense argues that this constable routinely verbals the people he questions.

   If an interrogator verbals a witness, the fabricated statement taints the trial.

   Note

   The present-tense form of a verb from British and Australian usage: to verbal someone is to claim, usually falsely, that they made an oral admission. It is transitive and needs an object: a detective verbals a suspect. Keep it apart from the noun plural, where verbals can be the confessions themselves. Here the word names the act of inventing one.

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