I. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a board/ball game
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board games such as Monopoly and Scrabble
ball and chain
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The lower-tech side of the business was seen as a ball and chain.
ball bearing
ball boy
ball game
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I used to be a teacher, so working in an office is a whole new ball game.
ball girl
ball park
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Their estimate is in the right ball park.
beach ball
blasted...ball
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With six minutes remaining, he blasted the ball through the Coleraine defences for his 19th goal of the season.
bowling ball
chipped...ball
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United scored just before half-time when Adcock cleverly chipped the ball over the keeper.
crystal ball
cue ball
fly ball
golf ball
jump ball
loose ball
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Sheringham was the first player to reach the loose ball .
masked ball
no ball
roll sth into a ball/tube
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Roll the dough into small balls.
steals the ball
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Roy steals the ball four times in the first half.
Swiss ball
the ball of your foot (= the rounded part of your foot at the base of the toes )
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He has a blister on the ball of his foot.
the belle of the ball (= the most beautiful girl at a dance or party )
wedding/evening/ball gown
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a white silk wedding gown
wrecking ball
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
bearing
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There must be an old Navy uniform and a few ball bearings somewhere on Treasure Island.
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They were rolling it on rusty ball bearings .
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Once fired, the blast would fire the ball bearings out toward the enemy and covered quite an area.
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In the first system the rotation of the mouse's wheels or ball bearing are transferred to rollers.
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The football's got ball bearings in it.
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Many machines use ball bearings to reduce friction.
cricket
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Now the hard leather cricket ball had inflamed this old injury.
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Can his death really be blamed on a cricket ball ?
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Winston Churchill, with extraordinary perspicacity, wrote at the time: Meeting an artillery attack is like catching a cricket ball .
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Meeting an artillery attack is like catching a cricket ball .
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There were no houses, no people, no hills, and not a rock bigger than a cricket ball .
crystal
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They must not have hired him for his political foresight, either, because his crystal ball record is abysmal.
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Gazing into our crystal ball , we see Scott breaking her campaign promise to not privatize Tucson Water.
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You are on a globe that looks like a crystal ball or a marble in a light bed of cotton wool.
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Not glass to reflect bit of the world, but a crystal ball to look into soas to understand the world.
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The scientists' crystal ball is a bit cloudy on some things though.
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A crystal ball in which one can call up the past?
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Or maybe you have seen a crystal ball containing a tiny house which you can shake to produce a brilliant snowstorm?
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If you are still out of work, the tribunal has to gaze into its crystal ball .
game
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Although not my cup of tea, I must admit Manchester United is a whole new ball game .
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Analysts said the company had done just what it needed to do to stay in the telephone company ball game .
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So obviously if he's hidden this one, he's playing a whole new ball game .
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Nothing works quite like finger food in terms of complementing a b-ball game .
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There are many simple exercises you can do to help people keep moving which can be done sitting down such as ball games .
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Every year it should be a slightly different ball game to keep every species slightly out of equilibrium.
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There is a strong argument for insisting that he is the outstanding performer in any ball game .
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Read in studio Still to come on Central News, it's a whole new ball game .
golf
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Theatre dressing room-style fittings with small golf ball bulbs are especially effective.
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A 3-ounce roll is the size of a golf ball .
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But with being a keen golfer, I developed a keen eye for a golf ball and a distance.
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I accept that a golf ball is inanimate.
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Hernias vary in size from a golf ball to a football and can strike at any age.
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I understand that a golf ball does not have ears or a brain or even a nervous system.
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It can detect a steel sphere half the size of a golf ball , at a range of 70 yards.
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Reunion Tower, a downtown landmark, looks like a giant, electric golf ball on 50-story tee.
gown
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Her ball gown was an old grey dress which she had prettified with some lengths of Brussels lace.
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The inaugural ball gown was an emphatic announcement that the first lady was going to play the style game her way.
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They are in their tuxedos and ball gowns .
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No one breakfasts in ball gowns anymore, but many people still dress up for the afternoon races.
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She wore a yellow taffeta ball gown with black pumps and matching bum bag for her liver treats!
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There will not be a shortage of ball gowns and tuxes.
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The women wore ball gowns and jewels and looked like royal butterflies.
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National stores have had ball gowns shipped in from all over the country.
park
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And the cost of a day at the ball park ?
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He can walk to the ball park from the house.
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Change-up curves are what Mantle hits out of ball parks .
tennis
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Yes, Ezra is a tennis ball , does bounce on, off, along, over everything.
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You can tell her all about the time I hit a tennis ball off the moon.
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The cat, although nervous, appears unharmed by the tennis ball which has just struck it amidships.
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Luckily, that problem turned out to be nothing more than a tennis ball lodged in a downspout.
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More cheerfully he trotted after Lou, catching the tennis ball as it came bouncing towards him.
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The ghost of the tennis ball is coming to haunt the man.
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These days you hardly ever see a child with a small rubber or tennis ball .
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My cheek was swollen like I had misplaced a tennis ball .
■ VERB
bowl
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Rawson then bowled the next ball wide of the stumps before joining his team in a frantic dash for the pavilion.
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He rolls around the bed like a loose bowling ball in the trunk of the car.
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With the scores level, Akram then had Mallender caught at slip via a rebound and bowled Tufnell next ball .
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His face was smooth as a bowling ball , the skin tight and bright, masking hard inner muscle.
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Place a set of wickets about ten feet from a second position from where a person is going to bowl a ball .
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Fairbrother, on 18, was bowled by a quicker ball from Warnaweera.
catch
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The ever-enthusiastic and friendly Bobby Skinstad volunteered to lift me up from behind for me to catch the ball .
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The Steeler receivers run well after they catch the ball , so you have to tackle well in the secondary.
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Winston Churchill, with extraordinary perspicacity, wrote at the time: Meeting an artillery attack is like catching a cricket ball .
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He caught the ball in rhythm and drained the 3-pointer with 15. 7 seconds left.
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More cheerfully he trotted after Lou, catching the tennis ball as it came bouncing towards him.
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In fact, Alou was scratched because he jammed his left wrist the night before trying to catch a home-run ball .
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He helps in a lot of other ways than catching the ball .
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He caught the ball and took off, all 320 pounds of him.
drop
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With outstretched arm he dropped the ball in the circle.
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Parore dropped Lewis first ball , and again before stumps.
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That was before Muirbrook dropped the ball , which Raiders cornerback Lionel Washington recovered.
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Those who drop the ball return to number one and those below that number move up one place.
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Another time he dropped a ball of crunched-up math paper on my desk.
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My handling skills have always been reasonable in all sports, and I managed to complete the exercise without dropping a ball .
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If a 260 tennis coach followed this philosophy, students would practice dropping the ball for a week.
get
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Then Page gets the ball on the half way line.
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Illinois gets the ball and Eddie promptly steals it.
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Platt got the ball in the net again after 31 minutes, but he was ruled offside.
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They are so good at forcing turnovers and getting the ball out.
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I got the glass ball in one hand and the arrow in the other.
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The object in every game for us is to get the ball to Tim Brown early because he is our go-to guy.
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He looks dangerous every time he gets the ball .
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I really wanted to get the ball in the end zone to put the game out of reach.
hit
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Also, some think that because they are holding a driver they have to hit the ball much harder.
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You can tell her all about the time I hit a tennis ball off the moon.
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Some one who hits the ball with great accuracy on the volley and with some power too.
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I hit the ball well and a very loud cheer went up.
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On the other hand, I do hit the ball tremendously hard and with various violent spins.
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Pow, Janir hit a long ball into the blackberry bushes beside the creek.
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That created a little space and I just hit the ball .
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His strength was hitting the ball to left.
hold
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He said he felt like somebody grabbed his arm to keep him from holding the ball .
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You hold one ball in each hand.
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Nobody gained much, but Hicks held on to the ball .
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She was just standing there beaming, holding this big ball of fluff in her arms.
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After the catch, he crashed hard into the barrier but held on to the ball .
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His great skill is to be able to hold the ball back without changing his action.
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Young, holding the ball a little too long, came through the sacks without a dent.
keep
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Peter was as steady as a rock, keeping the ball on the fairway and hitting nearly every green in regulation.
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It was she, far more than her husband, who kept the conversational ball rolling.
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Nowadays, even wings are expected, like everyone else, to keep the ball available.
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We wanted to shorten the game and keep the ball away from their offense.
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I went, I tried the game, and I liked it straight off, even though I kept missing the ball .
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Volume 2 deals with general idioms e.g. keep the ball rolling, the proof of the pudding.
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For the boys, there is no point in the repetitive instructions to keep the ball on the ground.
kick
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After a few laps of the track we could kick a ball about or even have a go at throwing a javelin.
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So when they played after school, they improvised by kicking a tennis ball .
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You can also invent little games, such as kicking a ball in a bucket or bowl of water.
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Just kicked the ball , I guess.
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There is only one option left for the attacking team - to kick the ball .
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Did you kick the ball and then run fast?
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That would soon stop teams kicking the ball away.
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They remind you of a bunch of schoolboys wandering down a lonely road, kicking a ball along.
lose
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Iain Balshaw was turned over on the wing, only for Queensland to lose the ball again.
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The rules allow five minutes to search for a lost ball .
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He lost the ball in a tackle and so spilled CI's chances of a perfect start.
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He lost the ball when he hit the turf but recovered the loose ball.
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Five minutes later the same player received the ball in a dangerous position after Shuhel Milque lost the ball in midfield.
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The pack is strong, but we lost lots of lineout ball in Dublin and never got going.
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To lose your own ball in a line-out is more damaging than losing a strike against the head.
move
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We wanted to move the ball wide to allow Sella and Mesnel some space.
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We drove down the field and did a good job moving the ball .
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Look how far the head has moved past the ball .
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It was a night when they moved the ball smartly around the perimeter and hit the key shots.
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It is a little like throwing a ball out of a moving train.
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He likes to move the ball quickly and prefers to throw in the 10-20-yard range.
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He attempted to escape by hitting a nine-iron left-handed but succeeded in only moving the ball a couple of inches.
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They moved the ball , hit the open man, hustled and scrapped.
pass
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Eventually, some one passed me the ball .
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The midfielders and defenders passed the ball around in their end of the field, 10 or 15 passes at a time.
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There was a moment, during a general kick-about, when some one passed me the ball .
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The Ramblers pass a soccer ball back and forth, a display of agility and grace.
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He rarely passes the ball away, and in his role you need that.
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So Kobe Bryant passed the ball to Duncan in the final seconds for the West.
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They have so much attacking talent, pass the ball crisply, move lithely and carve out openings galore.
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But Dollar does not pass the ball as Edney comes at him.
pick
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From a hurried clearance, I think, Wallace picked up the ball and went past 4 defenders to the bye-line.
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I thought she was going to pick up the ball or something, she was so small.
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His mistakes usually make Lukic pick the ball out of the net.
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It was Cooper picking off the ball and feeding Thompson.
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The man had picked up the ball , and peered down at Nick through dark-rimmed, bleary eyes.
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He picked up the ball and walked the length of the yard with six of us hanging on him.
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He picked up the ball 25 yards out and attempted to chip Royce.
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After the Luisenos gain a quick advantage, however, a Sanjuaneno picks up the ball .
play
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The first option is to play the ball as it lies.
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It was a timeless scene: a brick house, a mown meadow, a man and his boy playing ball .
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This now prevents players who are in front of the ball from advancing forward towards an opponent waiting to play the ball.
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She played ball , she had difficulty with spelling, and she wanted to be a doctor when she grew up.
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These are the two accepted ways of playing the rising ball .
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Unfortunately, the team is playing catch-up and make-up ball .
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He has no one to play ball with and tosses his ball against the wall in a most despondent fashion.
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When they break a window playing ball or lose something that belongs to a friend, they should make amends.
roll
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I rolled out like a ball but sneaked back in on the back seat.
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He picked lint from his pants, rolled it into a ball , and flicked it across the room.
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They were rolling it on rusty ball bearings.
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At first, the teacher would play just with Hannah, rolling a ball to her.
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Hateley instantly exploited the error, rolling the ball back to Ian Ferguson and what followed was hell for defender Sergei Fokine.
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He can move forwards, rolling the ball forwards, and then come back almost to sit on his heels.
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A hedgehog tries to climb up the net and when it hears you approach it promptly rolls up into a ball .
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He rolled it into a ball , put it into his mouth, chewed.
run
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So, far from encouraging sides to run the ball more often, we have the opposite.
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When we ran the ball and we blocked I got yards.
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The sessions will include all the usual techniques like running with the ball , passing, defending, shooting and more.
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I really think they thought they were going to run the ball with him.
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When you run your healing ball within yourself, you must roll it everywhere.
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They planned on running the ball .
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Here we had to run , with the ball , through two players holding padded tackle bags.
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Kansas City wants to run the ball .
throw
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Children were playing and throwing a ball for each other to catch.
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I would throw the ball and he would just sit there with a stupid look on his face.
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It is a little like throwing a ball out of a moving train.
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Take the act of throwing a ball .
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Not bad for hitting, throwing and catching a ball - but also unaffordable.
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Young should have thrown the ball away on second-and-goal from the 5.
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The rest of the team try to throw the ball to their catcher and if they succeed they get a point.
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He throws an imaginary ball in the air and serves it to the horizon.
touch
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If a defending player has a loose lace and this touches the ball , may the attacking side drop for goal?
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Napoleon Kaufman, making his third consecutive start, certainly wants to touch the ball more frequently.
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Also the incident when he hacked their left winger in the box, he never touched the ball .
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This was another night to greet Scottie Pippen with a constant chorus of boos every time he touched the ball .
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Tortolano fed Weir and he touched the ball on to McGinlay, who ran through a porous home defence to score easily.
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Terrell and I knew we would touch the ball a limited number of times.
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O'Connell's header found Graham completely unmarked inside the penalty box but Goram did enough to touch the ball on to the bar.
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The first-half, however, may be best remembered for what happened to a player who hardly touched the ball .
turn
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It bounced up and I turned to see the ball hovering above my stumps.
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The penalty gave the Jaguars a first down instead of having to turn the ball over to the Raiders.
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Gary Lund raced in for the rebound but Marker turned the ball round the post.
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Sprinkle the sesame seeds over it. Turn each ball around in the coating, lightly pressing it in.
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But no, as I watched, he turned a ball elegantly off his legs and called for a quick single.
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There are not many times you can turn the ball over five times and win.
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Grobbelaar flapped at McGee's cross and when Miller drove in a low shot Sanchez turned the ball into the net.
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They missed 10 of 26 free throws and turned the ball over 16 times.
win
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He wanted to win the ball and did not have the slightest intention of injuring Uzzell, he added.
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For this we needed to win quick ball in the loose where Tordo was excellent.
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But London won enough of the ball for Carling to display his acceleration and his priceless ability to time a pass.
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United keeper, Paul Kee should have won the ball , punched it clear.
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Clarke won plenty of line-out ball , but Andy Reed and Paul Burnell in the front five did not contribute as expected.
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However, real problems may arise once Leinster attempt to win the loose ball .
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Gloucester's problem was that they still could not win enough of the ball .
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a ball-park figure/estimate/amount
a whole new ball game
▪
I used to be a teacher, so working in an office is a whole new ball game.
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Although not my cup of tea, I must admit Manchester United is a whole new ball game.
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Read in studio Still to come on Central News, it's a whole new ball game.
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So obviously if he's hidden this one, he's playing a whole new ball game.
in the (right) ball park
play ball
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He has no one to play ball with and tosses his ball against the wall in a most despondent fashion.
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It seemed clear to us that we would always have the time to play ball and get better as we went along.
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It was a timeless scene: a brick house, a mown meadow, a man and his boy playing ball.
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She played ball, she had difficulty with spelling, and she wanted to be a doctor when she grew up.
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The editor would have doubled it, if you'd played ball with me.
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There is a simple, inexpensive solution for those who refuse to play ball with the system.
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When they break a window playing ball or lose something that belongs to a friend, they should make amends.
spike the ball
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William Floyd, after a run to nowhere, spiked the ball a mile high.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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a big beach ball
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Comets are balls of ice and dirt that circle the sun.
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It was the first time I'd ever been invited to a ball .
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Mommy, where's my ball ?
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Shape the cookie dough into balls and put them in the refrigerator.
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The kitten was playing with a ball of yarn.
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The University holds a summer ball at the end of June.
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When hedgehogs are in danger, they curl their bodies into tight balls.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Alomar said it was a ball .
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But suddenly the sight of Giuseppe Signori's invitingly lofted ball into the penalty area put a spring in his step.
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Instead of bowling the ball , which bore a small silver shield, Mr Cottle threw it at a low-flying swan.
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Lukic must have seen the ball extremely late but still managed to get down well.
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She wants it for a ball , this poor unbalanced girl.
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The 49ers had the ball on the Bengals' 6-yard line, first-and-goal, down by a touchdown.
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The mallet whacked into the wooden ball , and the women laughed as the men groaned.
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Then she travels with the ball .
II. verb
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a ball-park figure/estimate/amount
a whole new ball game
▪
I used to be a teacher, so working in an office is a whole new ball game.
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Although not my cup of tea, I must admit Manchester United is a whole new ball game.
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Read in studio Still to come on Central News, it's a whole new ball game.
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So obviously if he's hidden this one, he's playing a whole new ball game.
in the (right) ball park
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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In that time Dean is balling Marylou at the hotel and gives me time to change and dress.