I. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a blow to sb/sth's credibilty (= something that damages credibility )
▪
The case was a severe blow to the administration's credibility.
a breeze blows
▪
The strong breeze blew sand in our faces.
a devastating blow (= a devastating action or event )
▪
When a huge car bomb exploded, it was a devastating blow to the peace plan.
a gale blows
▪
It was a grey winter’s day with an Atlantic gale blowing.
a severe blow (= an event that has a very bad effect )
▪
The closure of the mine was a severe blow to the country’s economy.
a storm blows itself out (= ends )
▪
The storm finally blew itself out.
a storm blows over (= ends )
▪
The President is just hoping that the storm will blow over quickly.
a storm blows up (= starts )
▪
That night, a storm blew up.
a storm blows up (= starts )
▪
In 1895 a diplomatic storm blew up between Britain and America over Venezuela.
be blowing/swaying/flapping etc in the wind
▪
The trees were all swaying in the wind.
be blown to bits (= by a bomb )
▪
A bus shelter nearby was blown to bits.
blew...to kingdom come
▪
He left the gas on and nearly blew us all to kingdom come .
blew...whistle
▪
The lifeguard blew his whistle .
blow a chance informal (= have a special opportunity and fail to use it )
▪
He thought he’d blown his chance of happiness.
blow a fuse (= make it melt by putting too much electricity through it )
blow a lead informal (= to lose the lead )
▪
They managed to blow a 22-point lead.
blow a raspberry ( also give a raspberry American English )
▪
She blew a raspberry at him as he drove off.
blow job
blow out a candle
▪
Can you blow out all the candles on your birthday cake?
blow sb a kiss (= to kiss your hand and then blow across it towards someone )
▪
Joe blew her a kiss and waved goodbye.
blow up
▪
Can you help me blow up these balloons?
blow your nose (= clear your nose by blowing strongly into a piece of soft paper or cloth )
▪
She blew her nose on a large white handkerchief.
blowing bubbles
▪
She was blowing bubbles in her milk with a straw.
body blow
▪
Hopes of economic recovery were dealt a body blow by this latest announcement.
cruel blow
▪
His death was a cruel blow .
crushing blow (= made him lose hope and confidence )
▪
Failing his final exams was a crushing blow .
cushion the blow/impact (of sth)
▪
generous leaving allowances to help cushion the blow of redundancy
death blow
▪
His decision to leave the show has delivered a death blow to the series.
deflected...blow
▪
He deflected the blow with his forearm.
delivered a death blow to
▪
His decision to leave the show has delivered a death blow to the series.
fatal blow
▪
His presidential hopes suffered a fatal blow in New Hampshire.
it’s blowing a gale British English (= the wind is blowing very strongly )
▪
It was blowing a gale last night.
soften the blow/impact
▪
The impact of the tax was softened by large tax-free allowances.
sound/toot/honk/blow your horn (= make a noise with your horn )
strike a blow at/against/to sth
▪
The scandal seemed to have struck a mortal blow to the government’s chances of re-election.
struck...a blow
▪
Paul struck him a blow to the head.
suffer a blow (= experience a situation or event that causes difficulty or sadness )
▪
The government suffered another blow when a report claimed that standards in education were falling.
the wind blows
▪
A cold wind was blowing.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
apart
▪
As three more shots rang out, the push-chair blew apart .
▪
Others had been hit by pieces of trees or bomb fragments and blown apart .
▪
To stop the people going back, their homes are shelled, shot up and blown apart .
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Living away from each other, the extended family has been blown apart .
▪
Everyone on the bridge of the Raubvogel ducked as a pane of glass was blown apart .
▪
The old world has been blown apart .
▪
It was in the film to be blown apart .
▪
The ship had clearly been blown apart .
away
▪
The glass shattered like an eggshell, and blew away .
▪
Honest, how do they keep themselves from blowing away ?
▪
Hundreds of millions of dollars blown away .
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But my doubts have been blown away .
▪
Amongst other things, it threatened to blow away the career of Michael Banks.
▪
Remaining stacks were blown away with tank fire.
▪
Beatlemania had arrived, and everywhere a gale of self-induced collective hysteria blew away the leaves of fuddy-duddy Britain.
▪
And again the Brit blew away the Yank.
down
▪
We planted it 12 years ago, to replace one blown down in the previous storms.
▪
Over the valley, a full moon was rising, and a chill wind was blowing down from the distant mountains.
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So ferocious was the wind that the trees blew down and blocked the roads and railways.
▪
Trees were uprooted, tents blown down , the bridges over the Chickahominy nearly swept away, and the very earth flooded.
▪
The experiment had to be abandoned however as drenching rain was continuous and the tent was blown down .
▪
The flame of the wick was blown down to touch the paraffin in the body of the lamp.
▪
And she blew down a kiss.
▪
Yellowed newspaper pages blew down its streets in the monsoon wind.
hard
▪
And the wind blew hard on the tower and me.
▪
Strong winds late Sunday blew hard south, sending the acrid smell of a campfire through much of Phoenix.
▪
There was no wind, of course, but the ladies blew hard to move my boat along.
▪
When we reached our house, the wind was blowing hard in our faces.
in
▪
Or was it the east wind blowing in through the open bell tower with renewed force?
▪
Out to a distance of seventy-five kilometers, windows are blown in and shards of glass are accelerated to high speeds.
▪
There is Miss Malcolm blown in late again.
▪
Claudia opened her window and let the wind blow in on her face.
▪
A draught of cold air blew in .
▪
The first snowstorm blew in from the north, and crows crossed the sky before it like thrown black socks.
off
▪
The door on the left was blown off its hinges by strategically placed charges that slammed it flat on to the floor.
▪
He was distracted by what sounded like the roof blowing off .
▪
Just then her hat blew off into the road and d'Urberville stopped the horse.
▪
At this point, you will let out a scream suggesting that some one has just blown off your toe with a. 45.
▪
Early that January a bitter wind blowing off the far Urals seized East Anglia in a grip of ice.
▪
She just needed to blow off steam.
▪
Four people were injured, including a man whose legs were blown off .
▪
Winds up here reach 80 miles an hour; the tin, the roofs, they blow off every now and then.
out
▪
He had the car heater on and the whirring as it blew out hot air was beginning to annoy him.
▪
On November 13, 1932, four tremendous explosions blew out the entrances and exits of the two Arizona tunnels.
▪
The novelty was in the clean and smiling way he said them, blowing out gray smoke rings at the same time.
▪
The scare has been blown out of proportion, said John Marchello, professor of animal science at the University of Arizona.
▪
Myles blew out the lamp and placed it on the sideboard.
▪
He cupped his hand over his thing as if it were a flame that might blow out .
▪
He then shuffled around the room cupping his hand around the chimneys and blowing out one lamp after another.
▪
The blast wave is much too weak when it reaches sea level to blow out the flames.
over
▪
The wind is blowing , blowing over the grass.
▪
Carter was merely stunned by the reaction from the East; he was blown over backward by the reaction from the West.
▪
This meant that the gliders were then parked the wrong way and, being light, they often blew over .
▪
That way, nothing will blow over while you are preparing for the next step: installing the joists.&038;.
▪
If a glider was blown over with some one sitting inside it unstrapped, that person could be killed.
▪
The forgery scare had blown over , actually.
▪
He blew over his cocoa and gave Sammy some of the skin, feeling rather important at doing so.
▪
Days of fear and trembling until it blew over .
up
▪
Anwar blew up all over the place.
▪
That same agent blew up the room I had been in because I was getting too close.
▪
He blew up five city blocks, of course.
▪
Urban violence and civil unrest were mushrooming like small bombs threatening to blow up the machine from within.
▪
On June 8, 1910, Post was back to blow up 171 2-pound charges at three-minute intervals.
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It has been blown up by the Arabs.
▪
What did it take to make Paul blow up ?
■ NOUN
balloon
▪
You look like you have blown up like a balloon and you feel that you are a complete dieting failure.
▪
Tell the students to blow up the balloon and then tape the straw to the balloon.
▪
Work quickly or keep the cutting material in a plastic bag blown up like a balloon and sealed.
▪
But there are two ways of blowing up a balloon .
▪
There was a game where you blew up balloons and sat on them.
▪
The first players then have to blow the balloons back for the second person to take over.
brain
▪
The bullet took him right between the eyes, blowing his brains out through the back of his head.
▪
In a few years you will blow your brains out, a bankrupt.
▪
There was a mercury pool for losers to reflect in while they blew their brains out.
▪
At that range she knew the gun would blow out her brains .
▪
Reading my dreams felt like a cool breeze blowing through my brain .
▪
Hunting rabbits with hawks is surely better than blowing their brains out with shotguns.
▪
The accused said that he would blow the victim's brains out if he was not quiet.
▪
No wonder the scribblers on the hustings have so much stale garbage blowing around their brains .
breeze
▪
The next day was bright and cold, with a stiff breeze blowing straight down the field.
▪
Uncertain which way to go, Benny gradually became aware of a gentle breeze blowing from the right.
▪
It was winter at last and a cool breeze blew at night.
▪
When she pushes it open, and switches on the light, she finds the breeze blowing through broken windows.
▪
A gentle breeze blew through the windows, lightly rustling the curtains.
▪
A thin, bad-tempered breeze blew sand into our faces and whipped up under my skirt.
▪
A breeze blows through the palms below, rustling their branches, so they whisper like voices.
bubble
▪
That is why you can blow bubbles with soapy water.
▪
She would watch the ball, shading her eyes, and blow a pink bubble .
▪
Felt Hat blows a bubble with her gum.
▪
Bunny or not, he still could not blow bubbles with it.
▪
It will be all downhill after the guests blow bubbles or light sparklers as you leave the church.
candle
▪
When we left they blew out all the candles and remained in the dark tombs.
▪
Then blindfold them and invite them to take four steps backwards followed by four forward before trying to blow out the candle .
▪
Then, picking up his tomahawk, he blows out the candle and springs into bed.
▪
They gathered the flowers that had been left as offerings, they blew the floating candles out.
▪
Mike blew his candle out, and I did the same.
▪
With a sigh, Connor shut the door and bolted it, then blew out the candle and went upstairs.
▪
He blew our the candle and locked the door.
chance
▪
Oxford blew their chance to stake a claim in the promotion race.
▪
The Astros were 9-20 without him last August to blow their wild-card chances .
▪
Middlesbrough have blown their championship chance with two defeats in four days.
▪
He had already blown his chances and perhaps that was why he played a relaxed stroke.
▪
Before he'd blown his chance of happiness for ever.
course
▪
Bad weather can force an emergency landing or strong winds can blow them off course .
▪
All the old fusty stuff had to be blown away, of course , so we might be nearer to nature.
▪
A huge gust of energy blew him back on course .
cover
▪
Last week the Prime Ministerwent to Devon and blew its cover .
▪
They blew their cover story almost immediately.
▪
It would only take one phone call to blow her cover .
▪
But they have blown their cover .
▪
All the press had to do was to interview any one of the islanders to blow the government cover story wide open.
▪
But if you were arrested for murder they would have to be very careful not to blow their cover .
▪
One mistake could blow his cover and ruin years of careful work in the North.
▪
They want to use a customised version to help their overseas operatives communicate home and browse without blowing their cover .
dust
▪
Some one should dig it out from the carpet under which it was brushed and blow the dust off it.
▪
The wind began to blow , grass and dust whipping ahead of them as though fleeing the black cloud.
▪
Kobborg and Cojocaru blow away the dust .
▪
The crowd thinning around them, the wind that blew dust and papers past could not interrupt their looking at each other.
▪
The hot wind blows a storm of dust and leaves, and the women retreat into their houses.
▪
Between the moon and my see-through roof a purple storm was blowing the dust of some previous war into the waste spaces.
▪
The clay dries and cracks in the sun, and the top layers are blown off as dust .
▪
Otherwise blow out dust from the keyboard and clean keyboard casing. 5.
fuse
▪
Damian Flint does everything he possibly can to make me blow twenty-five fuses at once!
▪
Ken ran to Maurine and Hayes's house, and Hayes rushed into our basement and replaced a blown fuse .
▪
I've even known him switch on a light without blowing all the fuses .
gale
▪
What would the position be if there was an exceptionally strong gale blowing at the time of the original road accident?
▪
When the autumn gales blew you could see the smoke being sucked out through the wall like water out of a leaky bucket.
▪
A gale may otherwise blow the whole fence over.
▪
She saved an old apple tree which the gale of 1987 had blown horizontal, but which sprouted again in the spring.
▪
His present place was shaky - a violent gale had just blown in the window panes and the frame was flapping loose.
glass
▪
The chocolates made her melt, sticky, gooey, and desire made her harden, glass blown by fire.
▪
The craft of glass blowing is vital to science, especially when researchers design experiments for which no containers are available.
▪
Everyone on the bridge of the Raubvogel ducked as a pane of glass was blown apart.
▪
After the glass is blown into the general shape, it is inspected.
▪
For contrast we went to the glass blowing factory for a demonstration of their skills.
▪
What collectors refer to as historical flasks are glass bottles blown into metal molds between about 1815 and 1870.
▪
They don't wash the glasses there; they blow on them.
▪
At Jalame crucibles must have been necessary to allow the gathering of glass on a blowing iron.
horn
▪
Other angry motorists blew their horns and flashed rude two-finger salutes when they finally managed to overtake him.
▪
Then all three of the traders laughed together and sounded like a fleet of tugboats blowing their horns .
▪
As she turned uphill, a dark-red Daimler slid by, and blew its horn at her.
▪
When you blow the horn , it sounds blaring.
▪
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn .
▪
We climbed up on to it; some one blew a horn and the beat started.
▪
Nanny hoisted her higher in her arms as the huntsman blew his horn and the hounds moved off.
kiss
▪
She blew a kiss to Tunney, and scampered up a wall like a spider.
▪
She blew him little kisses , and he felt love and pangs of something that frightened him.
▪
And she blew down a kiss .
▪
I wanted to blow her a kiss but there was nothing in me to send her way.
▪
Dinah was at the near window, saw him, and blew a kiss .
▪
Leyland blew kisses to his family behind the dugout.
▪
He gave them a huge grin and blew them a kiss .
▪
For him to blow a kiss to the gallery was one thing.
mind
▪
I sat down at the keyboard blowing my mind with Puccini.
▪
But then he blows his mind anyway.
▪
Even the pop posters were old, they blew my mind with boredom.
▪
One species, the ravens, already blows my mind .
▪
It is the catastrophic slippage in public respect which blows the minds of the apparatus.
▪
He estimated there were 100,000 of them, enough to blow the mind of an entire town.
nose
▪
She blew her nose as daintily as was possible in the circumstances and handed the handkerchief back with a wan smile.
▪
Jozia blew her red nose into her kerchief.
▪
With great discretion, the overcoats in the front pews blew their noses .
▪
For a moment Converse thought that she would blow her nose on him.
▪
He took his handkerchief from his pocket and blew his nose .
▪
Upstairs, Petey blew his nose and sipped water after finally giving up his dinner and feeling like he could walk again.
▪
Simpson grimaced, and blew his nose again.
proportion
▪
Female speaker I think it's been blown up out of all proportion .
▪
Athletes are a mirror of society, even if sometimes their images are blown out of proportion .
▪
The whole thing, of course, is being blown up out of all proportion by the Western media.
▪
Likewise, the scare associated with the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island was blown out of proportion .
▪
Things get blown out of proportion .
▪
He thought the whole incident had been blown up out of proportion .
▪
The issue was blown far out of proportion .
raspberry
▪
As I watched it soar over the crossbar,.Jamir stuck his tongue out in ridicule and blew a raspberry .
▪
I blew a raspberry , he blew two.
smithereens
▪
He remembered how innocently they had discussed which natives they would blow to smithereens and which they would grant a reprieve to.
smoke
▪
By the end of the evening she was puffing her cigarette and blowing the smoke at Miss Poole in the darkness.
▪
She's lying on the bed, blowing smoke at the ceiling.
▪
Winnie whips out a stogie and starts puffing away, blowing smoke over to your table.
▪
One or two chimneys blew smoke at the edge of the scheme.
▪
People had been blowing cigarette smoke on to them for years.
▪
Kersey blew smoke rings and watched them with approval.
▪
He gnawed at his thick lower lip or blew smoke in my direction.
storm
▪
On both of the previous occasions, the area was evacuated and isolated until the storm blew itself apart.
▪
The storm had blown itself out, leaving the sky pearly.
▪
Ahab stands and fights fiercely against the storm which blows him away from his course.
▪
Between the moon and my see-through roof a purple storm was blowing the dust of some previous war into the waste spaces.
▪
The morning of the third day, they woke up and saw the storm had blown itself out.
▪
She could do nothing but batten down the conversational hatches and wait until the storm blew itself out.
▪
As he rounded the tip of Cape Horn, a storm blew up from the west.
top
▪
Whether the Ipswich directors who watched him blow his top with the unwitting journalist believe that is debatable.
▪
Lit came on the east stage and blew the top off Woodstock.
▪
The wind was blowing over the top of Jinny's head, fluttering the loose, short hairs round her forehead.
▪
By blowing over the top of the paper, you made the air above the slow moving air strip move faster.
▪
It was unusual for Hauser to blow his top .
▪
Then suddenly he blew his top while walking down the street one day.
▪
It had me rolling on the floor to see Schmeichel blowing his top at the scum defence.
▪
Then Nature blows her top , just to remind us.
trumpet
▪
Most were reluctant, defensive, or simply hesitant to blow their own trumpet .
▪
Gordy started blowing on the trumpet in rhythm with her cries.
▪
For too long we Christians have heard the modern world blowing its own trumpet .
▪
Tonight, he could have shouted through the streets, blown a trumpet , waved a banner.
▪
Despite a unique record of achievement is recent years, he can never be accused of blowing his own trumpet .
▪
They are blowing trumpets singing up a storm and waving as they walk past us.
▪
The heraldry of day-to-day: a cat couchant on bricks; a baby in a push-chair blowing a trumpet very loudly.
▪
An angel hovered over their heads, blowing a yellow trumpet .
water
▪
But we could get blown out of the water ....
▪
Steady offshore winds keep blowing the water westward where it becomes heated.
▪
It was as if his confidence, like a target decoy, had been blown clean out of the water .
▪
Cassius heard the fisherman blow the water from his snorkel.
▪
Again, if there had been a Thatcherite on the programme, the Labour expert would have been blown out of the water .
▪
Wind whipping across sandbar on opposite shore, sand blowing across water .
▪
That is why you can blow bubbles with soapy water .
whistle
▪
Such whistles were blown only during war to offer the warrior supernatural protection.
▪
All I could do was frantically reach for my safety whistle and blow like crazy to alert the raft crew.
▪
Just before the whistle blew Vernon thought she had seen him; at any rate she was looking in his direction.
▪
A shrill whistle is blown angrily by a shivering soldier, a sentry at the tomb.
▪
The whistle would blow and Aunt Dorothy would wave goodbye.
▪
Suddenly, all over Illinois, train whistles began blowing in the middle of the night.
▪
I blew my whistle till I blew the pea out of it.
wind
▪
The wind was blowing over the top of Jinny's head, fluttering the loose, short hairs round her forehead.
▪
It was so much dust, and the slightest wind would blow it away.
▪
The wind is blowing , blowing over the grass.
▪
The wind blew strongly into the room.
▪
It would take some wind to blow me off.
▪
It represented a change of style, and this new wind threatened to blow away all that was dated and traditional.
▪
First high winds blow Stu Miller off the mound, forcing a balk, at Candlestick Park.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a glancing blow
▪
As Pegasus fought clear, I smelled smoke and felt a glancing blow which whirled me backwards and away.
▪
Gorbad bellowed in agony and swung Morgor wildly, catching Adolphus a glancing blow across the temple.
▪
He was standing on a piling at the ferry slip in Brooklyn when the ferry hit it a glancing blow.
▪
It leapt forward as Delaney cried out and struck it a glancing blow with the torch.
▪
Police believe Tony was struck a glancing blow by the wing mirror of a transit-type van.
▪
Tom struck his head a glancing blow, and blood came.
blow a gasket
▪
The next morning we found the aircraft had blown a gasket .
▪
They've got her started and she's blown a gasket .
▪
We had blown a gasket and told them of our problem, but we did not declare an emergency.
blow sth sky-high
blow/clear the cobwebs away
▪
It will blow the cobwebs away.
▪
Talk about blowing the cobwebs away!
blow/go hot and cold
▪
Paula was going hot and cold by now.
▪
She went hot and cold, dizzy with confusion.
▪
Some of these young officers blow hot and cold.
blow/sod/bugger etc that for a lark
hammer blow
▪
Granny's thoughts had the strength of hammer blows and they'd pounded her personality into the walls.
▪
It brought another hammer blow to Britain's depressed farming industry.
▪
It was followed by a hammer blow that echoed like thunder through the steel hulk.
▪
Labour's energy spokesman says the decision is bad news for the consumer and a hammer blow for the coal industry.
▪
She glanced at her own reflection in the mirror and the answer came with the suddenness of a hammer blow.
▪
Such speeds are far faster than any hammer blow and considerably faster than the flight of bullets.
▪
The sight was a hammer blow to Yuri Rudakov.
▪
The tunnels were quiet during the hammer blow of 1972.
it's an ill wind (that blows nobody any good)
knock/blow sb's socks off
▪
And yet the correlations just knock my socks off...
▪
So, he popped down to my office, stuck this demo on the turntable and it just blew my socks off.
▪
The current crop of non-Windows databases can knock the socks off their predecessors.
▪
This in-your-face marketing could be forgiven if the food absolutely knocked your socks off.
knockout punch/blow
▪
And then, as if to deliver the knockout blow to his scheme, the phone rang.
▪
But the new West Indies proved encouragingly resilient, repeatedly getting up off the canvas to deliver the final knockout punch.
▪
Great passing; good running, but they lacked a knockout punch.
▪
He may not have a knockout punch, but he does have good moves all the way to the bell.
▪
If people will use the vaccine available, it is possible to give paralytic polio a knockout blow within the next year.
▪
It was a knockout punch of which Indurain, Hinault or Merckx would have been proud.
▪
That seven eighty-one was like a knockout punch.
▪
The business was reeling from what appeared to have been the knockout punch.
let/blow off steam
▪
Recess is a good chance for kids to blow off steam .
▪
It was recreation hour, explained Brother Andrew with a smile, and the Brothers were letting off steam .
▪
Jody lets her blow off steam first.
▪
Others have behavioural problems and need to let off steam in a safe and controlled setting.
▪
She just needed to blow off steam .
▪
So kicking the cat, biting a towel or pounding a pillow aren't really much use, except for letting off steam .
▪
We let off steam in graffiti, vandalism and football hooliganism.
▪
You got upset, blew off steam .
▪
You want to let off steam ?
mortal blow/danger/wound etc
▪
As she reads or hears the news reports of battles, she can ascertain whether he is in mortal danger.
▪
Hellenism no longer represented a mortal danger.
▪
His dragon had taken a mortal wound as he and Caledor clashed on the battlefield.
▪
Railroad traffic is a mortal danger.
▪
This rust-blood pouring from mortal wounds in the planet's skin is a terrible indictment of the tyranny we climbers inflict.
▪
Yesterday, the joint shop stewards committee of Corporate Jets said a loss of production would be a mortal blow.
see which way the wind is blowing
smash/blow etc sth to smithereens
▪
He says an overweight lorry in a crash will smash a car to smithereens .
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
Blow on it, Ian - the oatmeal's very hot.
▪
A warm breeze was blowing from the south.
▪
He blew smoke rings across the table.
▪
He won £500,000 in the National Lottery, but he's already blown the lot.
▪
I put the balloon to my lips and blew as hard as I could.
▪
One of the tires blew and they skidded into the center divider.
▪
She blew the feather off her sleeve.
▪
The ornaments are made of blown glass.
▪
The referee blew his whistle to start the game.
▪
The whistle blew on the old steam engine.
▪
The wind must have blown the door shut.
▪
We blew $3000 on a trip to Barbados.
▪
You're lucky you didn't blow out the whole engine.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
He thinks one of the anti-Castro group is going to blow me away.
▪
His black hair was tousled, blown by the wind, shining strands of it across his brown forehead.
▪
On one of them was Blue Mooney, his pale blond hair blown against his cheek as he skidded around the corner.
▪
On the minus side, she'd blown a lot of money and received a couple of scares.
▪
She tried to open the door to the storage-room, but twice the wind blew it out of her hands.
▪
The scare has been blown out of proportion, said John Marchello, professor of animal science at the University of Arizona.
▪
The wind blew so hard the bread got stale in our hands.
▪
They know the way that the wind is blowing, and would be only too pleased to be redeployed into another trade.
II. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
big
▪
He says that it's a big blow , staff are very upset.
▪
A big blow came last summer, when Fortune magazine predicted legal and financial chaos for Hong Kong after 1997.
▪
The decision is a big blow to James but a welcome boost for Hooper.
▪
The card suffered a big blow when Phoenix junior-flyweight Michael Carbajal withdrew because of pneumonia.
▪
But the biggest blow was a cut of £200,000 in its council grant.
▪
Losing Harris and Prince would be the biggest blows , though.
▪
He says that the biggest blow came when Rank's made thousands redundant in the eighties.
▪
Wilson knows which way the big national wind blows .
bitter
▪
It was a bitter blow when the trustees preferred the reprint.
▪
The loss of that partner through death, either shortly before retirement or afterwards, comes as a bitter blow .
▪
It was a particularly bitter blow for Leeds, because in the very first minute they should have levelled the tie.
▪
So defeat was a bitter blow to Dowding.
cruel
▪
That was a cruel blow for Howard Wilkinson's team, who had made a committed, controlled and commanding start.
▪
This had been a cruel blow , but it wouldn't stop her from ensuring that justice was done.
▪
It would have been an unnecessary and cruel blow for her to see her old home in its state of decay.
▪
The fact Pears could be ruled out of the crunch game at Molineux is a cruel blow after his superb season.
▪
It is a cruel blow and one that again underlines the inconsistency of the red card law.
▪
He wanted to give comfort, and protect her from the cruel blow life had dealt her.
▪
Yet with their very first attack, the visitors struck a cruel blow .
devastating
▪
A sharp run-down in the business would be a devastating blow to the local economy.
▪
That would be a devastating blow to the long-term unemployed.
▪
Her loss is a devastating blow to the standing of the monarchy.
▪
That was a devastating blow from which the constituency is struggling to recover.
▪
Forest struck a devastating first blow after 11 minutes.
▪
Shaking a little at first but gradually warming to his theme, the sacked Chancellor dealt John Major a devastating blow .
▪
The death of Osvaldo was a devastating blow to all Danuese patriots.
double
▪
Villa had suffered a double injury blow before manager Ron Atkinson had settled in the dugout.
▪
However, the danger is that the double blow of recession and Royal Mail reorganisation could make that first rung very narrow.
▪
The double blow left the 43-year-old Grease star numb with shock.
▪
It was a double blow , too, for Morris.
fatal
▪
But the elections were a further, and fatal , blow .
▪
His presidential hopes thus suffered a fatal blow in the snow drifts of New Hampshire.
▪
For the prosecution case to stand, it will be necessary to prove that Lenny McLean struck the fatal blow .
▪
This was the first time he dealt a fatal blow without intending it.
▪
Experts claim that at least half were inflicted well before the fatal blow .
▪
The woman had lashed out in fear and given the bird a fatal blow , feathers everywhere.
▪
He had not delivered the fatal blows , he had not pulled the trigger.
▪
Who might strike the fatal blow this time?
final
▪
The final blow for many firms was the government's abolition of import duties which resulted in a flood of cheap imports.
▪
Practices which have characterised the details of your daily living from the cradle upwards are dealt a swift and final blow .
▪
The final blow for Philip was the defection of his chancellor, Conrad, bishop of Würzburg.
further
▪
This was a further blow for Adolph Zukor; both Arbuckle and Taylor had been under contract to him.
glancing
▪
It leapt forward as Delaney cried out and struck it a glancing blow with the torch.
▪
Gorbad bellowed in agony and swung Morgor wildly, catching Adolphus a glancing blow across the temple.
▪
Police believe Tony was struck a glancing blow by the wing mirror of a transit-type van.
great
▪
It will be a greater blow than would be a dozen pogroms.
▪
It was a great blow to all the family. 1962 brought more shocks for Salvationists in Rhodesia.
▪
Stalingrad was the greatest single blow of the war.
▪
Her death in April 1994 was the second great blow in his life.
hard
▪
He had struggled to his feet, but then felt a really hard blow on the face.
▪
Good fortune can be as bewildering as a hard blow sometimes.
▪
It's a hard blow to stop.
▪
It was the hardest blow he had ever taken.
▪
He survived a hard blow to the jaw in the dying seconds to win 20-10.
heavy
▪
Now think again of the wound on Hector's face - a heavy blow , a wide gash.
▪
I am not wholly barren of hope, for circumstances have been dealing the conventional wisdom a new series of heavy blows .
▪
It is knocked to the ground by a heavy blow , seized by the throat or mouth and quickly suffocated.
▪
For the beneficiaries the change would be almost imperceptible: for the losers it would be a heavy blow .
▪
He says that both changes will be a heavy blow for young self-employed workers.
▪
The repression which followed temporarily halted the labour movement and dealt the party a heavy blow .
▪
Obituary: Carlo Verrri. Heavy blow to Alitalia:.
huge
▪
But the study is a huge blow to the transplant programme, criticised not least because of the huge costs involved.
▪
It was a huge blow to him.
knockout
▪
If people will use the vaccine available, it is possible to give paralytic polio a knockout blow within the next year.
low
▪
Trinidad was warned for low blows twice by referee Mitch Halpern.
▪
He respected Ray and his willingness to fight for his ideals, but this was a low blow .
major
▪
The loss of the plant would have been a major blow to the local economy.
▪
This is a major blow , perhaps a turning point.
▪
It then takes a major blow to fracture it.
▪
However, its fall is another major blow to the rebels.
▪
That would be a major blow for the airline.
▪
Dundee also suffered a major blow when player/manager Simon Stainrod limped off seven minutes from the interval.
▪
Losing his international place two years ago was also a major blow .
▪
Losses are expected to top £100m this year, a major blow to the company's 40,000 employees.
mortal
▪
Yesterday, the joint shop stewards committee of Corporate Jets said a loss of production would be a mortal blow .
▪
It was not a mortal blow in the style of Lord Howe who brought about the downfall of Margaret Thatcher.
▪
Though Canary's death was a mortal blow to the film, the groundwork he had laid carried the project forward.
serious
▪
Like the contagious diseases defeat, Simon's resignation was received as a serious blow by the medical profession.
▪
But politically, the rebellion in the Cabinet is a serious and telling blow .
▪
The Taff Vale decision was a serious blow to trade unionism.
▪
This year, that amount could plummet to $ 1 million, a serious blow to the already financially struggling tribe.
▪
A person who is quickly back on his or her feet after a serious blow .
▪
The decision also represented a serious blow to the morale of the regulatory authorities.
▪
His departure will, of course, be a serious blow to our hopes of pulling away from the foot of the table.
▪
It is being said with some conviction that Labour inflicted a serious blow on itself with that Sheffield monster rally.
severe
▪
The failure of the Accord was also a severe blow to Mulroney and prompted opposition calls for his resignation.
▪
This was a severe blow because we needed him desperately.
▪
Pittsburgh suffered a severe blow , however, when quarterback Neil O'Donnell broke his right leg.
▪
This is a severe blow to the Fernandez family.
▪
Bank Assistants have suffered a severe blow .
▪
That could deliver a severe financial blow to the county.
▪
Pentrite can explode without a detonator if it receives a severe blow or strong friction.
▪
Finally, the cutting of trade with the United States from 1985 was a severe blow .
sharp
▪
With the exact position established, the outline can be scored with sharp blows from a club hammer and bolster chisel.
▪
The bird-swat includes the same approach, but then ends with an upward leap and a sharp blow with the front foot.
▪
The sharpest financial blow came in mid-1939, when the owner of Bunce Court decided she wanted to sell the freehold.
▪
Another sharp blow hit him between his shoulder-blades.
▪
She felt a sharp blow to her arm and gasped, retreating further.
single
▪
The lock shattered with a single blow of the sledgehammer and they were in.
▪
There was no acceptable explanation for the injuries, and the injuries were consistent with a single blow .
▪
He found the spot where the three reeds were growing and at a single blow cut down all three with his sword.
▪
Stalingrad was the greatest single blow of the war.
▪
It looks as if he was struck by a single blow and died where he fell.
▪
Baking makes chestnuts brittle, which means they can be knocked off their string with a single blow .
▪
I agree that he was probably killed by a single blow and that wooden mallet on the table seems the likely weapon.
▪
Drums with single blows merging into a volley, resembling a creaking branch.
terrible
▪
Female speaker It's a terrible blow just on top of everything else.
▪
The outcome of the campaign was a terrible blow to the burdened President.
▪
I knew it would be a terrible blow to Marxism-Leninism.
▪
His untimely loss is a terrible blow to all of us who knew and cared for him.
▪
She says closing the college would be a terrible blow - it's used by thousands of people.
▪
How it all happened I now don't quite know, Except that my nose stopped a terrible blow .
■ NOUN
body
▪
Suddenly the confidence of the new radicals received a body blow .
▪
The heat had gradually become an expected body blow which was endurable with certain rules.
▪
The news was a body blow and for several months the company was on a knife edge.
▪
But tomorrow, with just a few words, the Chancellor could deal the company a body blow .
▪
Every tale - depressing as it is in its own right represents another body blow to the leasing industry.
▪
The news Herrmann brought was like a body blow .
death
▪
The fact that they have seen nothing is by no means an immediate death blow for all grand unified theories.
▪
The death blow to drug chic actually may have been struck by a fast-food chain.
▪
The death blow to the Aksumite kingdom came in the tenth century from unassimilated Agaw in the south.
▪
Neither, however, will be a death blow .
▪
Was it however so paradoxical as to have dealt a death blow to the theory?
hammer
▪
Such speeds are far faster than any hammer blow and considerably faster than the flight of bullets.
▪
The tunnels were quiet during the hammer blow of 1972.
▪
It brought another hammer blow to Britain's depressed farming industry.
▪
She glanced at her own reflection in the mirror and the answer came with the suddenness of a hammer blow .
▪
Labour's energy spokesman says the decision is bad news for the consumer and a hammer blow for the coal industry.
▪
Granny's thoughts had the strength of hammer blows and they'd pounded her personality into the walls.
▪
The sight was a hammer blow to Yuri Rudakov.
▪
It was followed by a hammer blow that echoed like thunder through the steel hulk.
■ VERB
cushion
▪
To cushion the blow , wages and pensions were increased.
▪
Additionally, two presidential decrees on March 23 had been designed to cushion the blow of the price rises.
▪
There was no way to cushion the blow .
▪
Even where price increases have taken place, retailers with good stocks may be able to cushion the blow for a while.
▪
The thick, air-filled bone of the skull helps to cushion the blow .
▪
Colonel Goreng broke the news to me, making no effort to cushion the blow .
deal
▪
It also dealt a blow to his testimonial, which nevertheless realised more than £2000.
▪
This was the first time he dealt a fatal blow without intending it.
▪
Once more the war had dealt an unfair blow to Otago cricket.
▪
Every blow of his was parried, though I dealt no blows in return.
▪
But it will deal a blow to the agreement, which allows publishers to set a minimum price for most books.
▪
His stance was apologetic, almost cringing as if he expected to be dealt a blow .
▪
Mickey had a ramp with pea sized objects rolling down to be dealt a mighty blow from a spring loaded mallet.
▪
They have enough problems avoiding the stones they are throwing among themselves to be dealt such an additional blow .
deflect
▪
He deflected the blow , and the razor edge cut deep into the gunwale of the ship.
▪
Scathach pushed her away, turning her in time to deflect the blow from another raider.
▪
As the knife flashed down, aimed at his heart, Connor deflected the blow with his left forearm.
deliver
▪
Furthermore, its flexibility and power of movement are considerably greater, so that less power is needed to deliver a blow .
▪
She stood her ground and got an almighty shove from Vassily, who smiled at me apologetically as he delivered the blow .
▪
Government forces delivered a critical blow to the rebels on March 7 when the Defence Ministry's communication links were severed.
▪
By the late 1880s there was nothing terribly mysterious about getting a steam hammer to deliver a blow of so many tons.
▪
Our final rehearsal before Farnham, however, delivered the cruellest blow so far.
▪
When he delivered his last blow , he avoided my face, and looked worried.
▪
He had not delivered the fatal blows , he had not pulled the trigger.
▪
That could deliver a severe financial blow to the county.
exchange
▪
Two figures were battling furiously, exchanging blows as they materialized.
▪
While the men exchanged blows the girl struck Farini from behind with a blunt instrument.
▪
They rolled over and over on the damp moss, exchanging blows and vile words until finally Topaz's strength ran out.
land
▪
The darker boy rallied and eventually landed more and heavier blows .
▪
The official unions will have to compete directly with Solidarity for members, so they want to land the first blows .
▪
Sharpe hacked again, this time landing a blow on the back of the helmet.
▪
Johnson counter-punched, landing three telling blows .
▪
This time, he hardly landed a blow as the majestic Christie cruised home.
receive
▪
Like the contagious diseases defeat, Simon's resignation was received as a serious blow by the medical profession.
▪
His adventure began during a practice game against the Minnesota Vikings when he received a blow to the head.
▪
Her eyebrow had received the blow from the torch and had begun to throb; she could feel a trickle of blood.
▪
I used to duck and cover my face, receiving ten blows instead of one.
▪
As they straighten, curve the spine and pull in the tummy, as if you have just received a blow .
▪
As he received the blow his face writhed and he gasped with pain.
▪
Agnes went to pick her up and received a blow from an elbow that sent her across the room.
▪
He went down to protest and himself began to receive blows .
soften
▪
Help, or soften the blow .?
▪
There was no warning, no softening of the blow .
▪
Or will motherhood soften the blow ?
▪
Try starting with a pat on the back to soften the blow of criticism.
▪
The Chancellor's flexibility to reduce interest rates much further, to soften the blow of tax increases, looks limited.
▪
Factories had closed, and thousands were out of work, without unemployment insurance to soften the blow .
▪
But you can soften the blow by telling his Dad that none of the other dads can do it either.
▪
Letting some one resign is a way to soften the blow .
strike
▪
But Kevin Curren struck some crucial blows - runs that Warwickshire could ill afford to concede at this stage of the match.
▪
They were certainly striking a blow for short people.
▪
Let us strike the blow which is to restore peace and union to this distracted land.
▪
Eventually, one of them attacked it with a large branch, striking it a damaging blow .
▪
The guard made a point of gazing into the distance as he struck his blows .
▪
Some one ought to strike a blow for women and show this vain man that he was utterly resistible!
suffer
▪
Villa had suffered a double injury blow before manager Ron Atkinson had settled in the dugout.
▪
His presidential hopes thus suffered a fatal blow in the snow drifts of New Hampshire.
▪
Pittsburgh suffered a severe blow , however, when quarterback Neil O'Donnell broke his right leg.
▪
The card suffered a big blow when Phoenix junior-flyweight Michael Carbajal withdrew because of pneumonia.
▪
In addition to the papal disregard of Canterbury's primatial claim over York, the monastic community suffered another grievous blow .
▪
Bank Assistants have suffered a severe blow .
▪
Aside from the engine failure Stiletto suffered a tyre blow out.
▪
Maesteg suffered a blow yesterday when they learnt captain and centre Huw Woodland will be sidelined for another month.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a glancing blow
▪
As Pegasus fought clear, I smelled smoke and felt a glancing blow which whirled me backwards and away.
▪
Gorbad bellowed in agony and swung Morgor wildly, catching Adolphus a glancing blow across the temple.
▪
He was standing on a piling at the ferry slip in Brooklyn when the ferry hit it a glancing blow.
▪
It leapt forward as Delaney cried out and struck it a glancing blow with the torch.
▪
Police believe Tony was struck a glancing blow by the wing mirror of a transit-type van.
▪
Tom struck his head a glancing blow, and blood came.
blow sth sky-high
blow/clear the cobwebs away
▪
It will blow the cobwebs away.
▪
Talk about blowing the cobwebs away!
blow/go hot and cold
▪
Paula was going hot and cold by now.
▪
She went hot and cold, dizzy with confusion.
▪
Some of these young officers blow hot and cold.
blow/sod/bugger etc that for a lark
come as a surprise/relief/blow etc (to sb)
▪
And this might come as a surprise to our brethren in the popular national press - Thirty-eight.
▪
Buller's Hill House came as a surprise.
▪
Her answer came as a surprise.
▪
It comes as a surprise to find him boasting of his prowess as a rioter.
▪
Nevertheless, he said the sharp drop in the book-to-bill came as a surprise.
▪
Nor should it come as a surprise that these rules frequently get S corporation owners into trouble.
▪
So it comes as a surprise to discover that this is not always the case.
▪
This should not come as a surprise to people who are free.
deal a blow (to sb/sth)
▪
But it will deal a blow to the agreement, which allows publishers to set a minimum price for most books.
▪
His stance was apologetic, almost cringing as if he expected to be dealt a blow.
▪
It also dealt a blow to his testimonial, which nevertheless realised more than £2000.
▪
Very many died without ever a chance of dealing a blow in return.
exchange blows (with sb)
▪
They rolled over and over on the damp moss, exchanging blows and vile words until finally Topaz's strength ran out.
▪
Two figures were battling furiously, exchanging blows as they materialized.
▪
While the men exchanged blows the girl struck Farini from behind with a blunt instrument.
hammer blow
▪
Granny's thoughts had the strength of hammer blows and they'd pounded her personality into the walls.
▪
It brought another hammer blow to Britain's depressed farming industry.
▪
It was followed by a hammer blow that echoed like thunder through the steel hulk.
▪
Labour's energy spokesman says the decision is bad news for the consumer and a hammer blow for the coal industry.
▪
She glanced at her own reflection in the mirror and the answer came with the suddenness of a hammer blow.
▪
Such speeds are far faster than any hammer blow and considerably faster than the flight of bullets.
▪
The sight was a hammer blow to Yuri Rudakov.
▪
The tunnels were quiet during the hammer blow of 1972.
it's an ill wind (that blows nobody any good)
knock/blow sb's socks off
▪
And yet the correlations just knock my socks off...
▪
So, he popped down to my office, stuck this demo on the turntable and it just blew my socks off.
▪
The current crop of non-Windows databases can knock the socks off their predecessors.
▪
This in-your-face marketing could be forgiven if the food absolutely knocked your socks off.
knockout punch/blow
▪
And then, as if to deliver the knockout blow to his scheme, the phone rang.
▪
But the new West Indies proved encouragingly resilient, repeatedly getting up off the canvas to deliver the final knockout punch.
▪
Great passing; good running, but they lacked a knockout punch.
▪
He may not have a knockout punch, but he does have good moves all the way to the bell.
▪
If people will use the vaccine available, it is possible to give paralytic polio a knockout blow within the next year.
▪
It was a knockout punch of which Indurain, Hinault or Merckx would have been proud.
▪
That seven eighty-one was like a knockout punch.
▪
The business was reeling from what appeared to have been the knockout punch.
land a punch/blow etc
▪
Flaws' Nigel's style includes getting caught with punches in order to land punches.
▪
He shot out his right arm and landed a punch on Lorrimer's nose.
▪
Sharpe hacked again, this time landing a blow on the back of the helmet.
▪
The first tried to land a punch, but he missed.
▪
This time, he hardly landed a blow as the majestic Christie cruised home.
let/blow off steam
▪
Recess is a good chance for kids to blow off steam .
▪
It was recreation hour, explained Brother Andrew with a smile, and the Brothers were letting off steam .
▪
Jody lets her blow off steam first.
▪
Others have behavioural problems and need to let off steam in a safe and controlled setting.
▪
She just needed to blow off steam .
▪
So kicking the cat, biting a towel or pounding a pillow aren't really much use, except for letting off steam .
▪
We let off steam in graffiti, vandalism and football hooliganism.
▪
You got upset, blew off steam .
▪
You want to let off steam ?
mortal blow/danger/wound etc
▪
As she reads or hears the news reports of battles, she can ascertain whether he is in mortal danger.
▪
Hellenism no longer represented a mortal danger.
▪
His dragon had taken a mortal wound as he and Caledor clashed on the battlefield.
▪
Railroad traffic is a mortal danger.
▪
This rust-blood pouring from mortal wounds in the planet's skin is a terrible indictment of the tyranny we climbers inflict.
▪
Yesterday, the joint shop stewards committee of Corporate Jets said a loss of production would be a mortal blow.
rain (down) blows/blows rain down
receive an injury/blow
▪
Agnes went to pick her up and received a blow from an elbow that sent her across the room.
▪
As they straighten, curve the spine and pull in the tummy, as if you have just received a blow.
▪
Ben stood transfixed with disbelief, his mouth open, as if he had received a blow across it.
▪
For his outspokenness, he received a blow to the skull which sent him reeling.
▪
He went down to protest and himself began to receive blows.
▪
His adventure began during a practice game against the Minnesota Vikings when he received a blow to the head.
▪
It was almost as if I had received a blow to the heart.
▪
Wilson received an injury in the third minute, but that didn't hamper his stand on the game.
ride a punch/blow
smash/blow etc sth to smithereens
▪
He says an overweight lorry in a crash will smash a car to smithereens .
strike a blow for sb/sth
▪
Little Bill in drag strikes a blow for the downtrodden girls.
▪
Some one ought to strike a blow for women and show this vain man that he was utterly resistible!
▪
They were certainly striking a blow for short people.
trade insults/blows etc
▪
He was more than prepared to trade blows with the former circus act Benichou.
▪
The two camps traded insults, moans and jeers, threatening occasionally to turn the proceedings into an intramural debate.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
a blow to the stomach
▪
His championship hopes were dealt a savage blow last night when he received a hamstring injury.
▪
Not being allowed to return to her own country was a blow from which she never really recovered.
▪
Officer Stacey was knocked over by a sharp blow to the head.
▪
The blow proved fatal.
▪
The assailant struck several blows before he was restrained.
▪
The Colorado river was closed, a bitter blow to rafters and kayakers who may have to wait seven years for a river use permit.
▪
three heavy blows from the hammer
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
For the prosecution case to stand, it will be necessary to prove that Lenny McLean struck the fatal blow .
▪
He had a robust self-esteem, even though this was a blow , and he needed financially to continue working.
▪
He kept coming, taking ten blows for one.
▪
It is a sweeping blow and only one who has seen them in action knows how tremendous it is.
▪
One jarring blow crushed it all.
▪
One of the knife blows had punctured a lung.
▪
The blue rose on stubby wings, twisting acrobatically to slip the blow .
▪
Tony smiled and without moving his left knee dodged the blows, his torso jinking, neck muscles popping.