I. adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a red/green/blue etc colour
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Our door was painted a bright green colour.
baby blues
black and blue
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If you do that again, I’ll beat you black and blue.
black/blue/white/grey smoke
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Black smoke poured out of the engine.
blue baby
blue book
blue cheese (= a type of cheese with blue lines in it and a strong taste )
blue cheese
blue jeans
blue law
blue movie
blue on blue
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a ‘Blue on Blue’ incident which saw an RAF jet brought down by a Patriot missile
blue on blue
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a ‘Blue on Blue’ incident which saw an RAF jet brought down by a Patriot missile
blue ribbon
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the club’s prized blue riband award
blue ribbon (= first prize )
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For the second time she won the blue ribbon .
blue
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The sun shone brightly upon the clear blue sea.
blue
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The sky was blue and the sun was shining.
brown/blue/grey/green
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Both their children have blue eyes.
colour sth red/blue etc
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Sunset came and coloured the sky a brilliant red.
dark blue/green/pink etc
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a dark blue dress
deep blue/pale blue
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She looked into his deep blue eyes.
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The tiny child 's pale blue eyes stared up at her appealingly.
deep blue/pale blue
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She looked into his deep blue eyes.
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The tiny child 's pale blue eyes stared up at her appealingly.
dusky pink/orange/blue etc
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a dusky pink room
dye sth black/blue/blonde etc
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Priscilla’s hair was dyed jet black.
electric blue
light blue/green/grey etc
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She had blue eyes and light brown hair.
midnight blue
navy blue
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a navy blue sweater
paint sth (in) blue/red/green etc
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We painted the door blue.
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Paint the walls in a contrasting colour.
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The living room was painted in pastel shades of pink and blue.
powder blue
rhythm and blues
royal blue
scream blue murder informal (= scream very loudly with fear or anger )
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She flew into a rage and screamed blue murder at him.
turn (sth) red/blue/white etc
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Rose’s hair was already turning grey.
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In October the leaves turn orange and yellow.
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The sun had turned the sky a glowing pink.
white/red/blue etc
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I decided to use white paint throughout the house.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
cheese
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Blues is a delicious full fat soft blue cheese with a creamy texture and good bite.
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A sprinkling of blue cheese or Gorgonzola makes it extra special.
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Add Cheddar cheese , blue cheese and 2 cups flour.
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And the horseradish potato puree, braised greens, Maytag blue cheese and port wine sauce are also praiseworthy.
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Nearly all blue cheeses are scalded and lightly pressed and tend to crumble.
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The mold variety used in the making of blue cheeses has been in use for centuries and is apparently safe.
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If you fancy a blue cheese , chose Roquefort over Stilton - the difference is 40 calories an ounce!
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Of the remaining blue cheeses , Mycella is probably the best known.
chip
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The City also wants to take it easier after yesterday's barrage of trading statements from blue chip companies.
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Metal, paper and chemical makers were among the leading gainers, helping blue chips to an impressive advance.
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Many blue chip companies use team-based competitions with a series of mental and physical challenges.
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The index of blue chip stocks gained 159. 70 for the week.
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After the auction, the blue chip benchmark inched higher to end at 6,170.3, a gain of 4.8 points.
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That proved a bonanza in 1995, when blue chips were market leaders.
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Joanne Tearle finds that the blue chip loan comes in many guises and choosing one may be your greatest problem.
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Among blue chips , J. P. Morgan surrendered 2 5 / 8 to 79.
collar
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The dark blue collar and shoulder straps are lined with scarlet cloth and edged with white lace.
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They were blue collar in occupation, and they were haters.
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Though most managers recognised the remarkable achievements of the machinists, the programmers were unhappy that blue collar workers remained in control.
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They needed to put a little blue collar -- Carolina blue, if you will -- into all that pompous purple.
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The report demonstrated that the 1980s austerity measures had disproportionately affected blue collar workers in comparison with white collar workers.
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Beyond that, however labor markets are no longer a simple matter of distinguishing between white and blue collars .
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Maybe Madonna is, like Cher, what director Franc Roddam calls' a genuine blue collar actress.
jeans
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Brown hair, àla Beatles, blue anorak, tatty blue jeans and guitar.
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The faded blue jeans she wore that morning, her old tennis shoes, her white cotton sweater.
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The head of a smart high-street men's shop attempted to tell me why corduroys are superior to blue jeans .
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Seven months earlier my friend could be seen on campus wearing blue jeans and a shirt that said dumb things.
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He wore a pair of faded blue jeans and a rugby shirt.
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With his blond hair and blue eyes, Spelling plays a Valley dude who wears a tank top and blue jeans .
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Co-star Steve McFadden, who plays Phil Mitchell, settled for a bomber jacket with blue jeans .
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Alvin dressed in blue jeans , shirts and boots and looked like the renegade that he felt he was.
moon
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So now he just comes round once in a blue moon .
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A blue moon is the second full moon in one month.
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Once in a blue moon the addressing system itself changes.
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That happens only once in a blue moon , when the weather is cold enough and thus the ice thick enough.
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The most recent observation of a blue moon was in Edinburgh in 1950.
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And Eleanor was damn lucky to have him as an escort once in a blue moon .
murder
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His bus turned into an Inter-City express without brakes and he sat on top and screamed blue murder .
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It might get into the papers, and then she'd be down here knocking on my door and screaming blue murder .
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I think that should be stopped - blue murder , vandalism and the lot.
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They say people usually get upset and scream blue murder and all that shite, but no me.
ribbon
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Then he went on gazing at Thérèse, voluptuous in flowered chintz and blue ribbons .
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Then there was Raymond Lereaux who showed horses and won blue ribbons that he brought to school for Show and Tell.
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A cot swathed in draperies and blue ribbon stood isolated in a corner.
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Christine had friends in the Working Groups, and Tim wore the blue ribbon .
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There were two large bouquets and a bundle of letters tied with pale blue ribbon , presumably from stage-door admirers.
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The Longitude Act established a blue ribbon panel of judges that became known as the Board of Longitude.
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A large jug and basin, charmingly ornamented with a design of blue ribbon , was its centre-piece.
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There are blue devils and blue ribbons and blue bloods.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a bolt from/out of the blue
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Even so, dismissal should never come as a bolt from the blue, however exalted your place in the corporate hierarchy.
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Inspiration hit me like a bolt from the blue on the way home.
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The Mishcon job came like a bolt from the blue.
between the devil and the deep blue sea
in a (blue) funk
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Sam drove off in a funk .
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At extremely fast tempos this lilt is lost and they even out as they would in a funk or fusion context.
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Montross is frank enough to admit that all this put him in a funk for a third of the season.
once in a blue moon
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Once in a blue moon Eric will offer to help with the dishes, but usually he doesn't do any housework at all.
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I used to spend a lot of time in London, but now I only go there once in a blue moon.
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We go out to eat once in a blue moon.
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And Eleanor was damn lucky to have him as an escort once in a blue moon.
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So now he just comes round once in a blue moon.
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That happens only once in a blue moon, when the weather is cold enough and thus the ice thick enough.
slate blue/grey
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By flaking off successive layers, the tree displays a bark of beige, cinnamon, lime green and slate blue.
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Immature has tail brown but throat white, with most of bill slate blue.
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Matching long-line briefs, £19, s, m, l, Also in classic navy and slate grey.
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Most remarkably it continued to function under California's midday sun, when it's slate grey shell was too hot hold!
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The falls of the flowers are a delicate yellowish green veined with slate blue.
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The sky past his profiled head had gone slate blue above a jagged paleness of snow.
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They were hard pin-points of slate blue beneath bushy eyebrows.
the boys in blue
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I can tell you the boys in blue are pleased you've turned up.
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I could just as easily send the Boys in Blue.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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blue language
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a dark blue sweater
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Her jokes are too blue for most audiences.
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I found the kids watching a blue movie on the video last night.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Carrie's bright blue eyes mirrored her good health and she hummed happily to herself as she brushed down her best coat.
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Inside this box, the hot, red upwellings of the mantle moved past cold, blue downwellings.
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Quills of blue smoke rose out of the swinging ball.
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The man who shot Richard had grey hair and was wearing a black leather jacket, a blue jumper and jeans.
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There are blue laws and blue movies.
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Thousands of fertilized sea urchin eggs, starfish and blue clams returned to Earth with the astronauts.
II. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
black
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We were pretty much trying to emulate a lot of the early black blues sound.
bright
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White predominated, sea-green and bright blue were also favourites.
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He was wearing some kind of uniform, navy blue with bright blue buttons.
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It is divided horizontally by color with bright blue on the head and back and yellow on the stomach and tail.
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The sky was bright blue , and the woods glowed with light.
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The rims of the eyes also have this same bright blue , and they retain this coloration in the adult stage.
brilliant
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From the heart of a large flat pebble-shaped stone he has revealed two fishes in brilliant , iridescent blues .
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It is light turquoise in the east, grading to deep, dark, brilliant blue in the west.
cobalt
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Kelly green, cobalt blue and fire-engine red.
dark
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Prussian blue , a dark rich blue discovered in Berlin in 1704, alluding to the colour of Tony Weller's face.
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Midway between sun and stagnant water he blazed in his glorious colors of putrefaction dark green, dark blue , black.
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All three stores looked lighter and brighter after the dark blues and browns of their old decor gave way to pastel colours.
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The smoke of smelters and charcoal kilns smudged a sky that all down the pass had been a dark , serene blue .
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Auburn and dark blue , honey and blood mixed together: the colour of a bruise.
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His eyes seemed darker blue and more wide open than usual.
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Mr Sammler, back walking the streets, which now were dark blue , a bluish glow from the street lamps.
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The tail is completely dark blue .
deep
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They had selected a full-skirted velvet frock in a deep royal blue which set off her auburn hair.
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The color of the body is a deep blue to purple and that of the head a bright orange-yellow.
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By morning thick clouds drift over, but the sky between them is deep blue and occasionally the sun peeks through.
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The sky is a deep blue .
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The sky has evolved into a mute deep blue , huge and high.
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Her eyelids were painted deep blue and her full mouth was a slick red.
light
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The light blues beat Oxford in a report judging the quality of research in 172 universities and colleges.
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Color: Light blue collars a pale neck, behind writhe thick green vines, exploding ultramarine blooms.
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On paper it appears the light blues are inches shorter ... and a few months older ... but what about on the water?
pale
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He threw my dress shirt over it so all was pale blue .
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It is the pale , icy blues and strong medium shades that are now the most popular.
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He was wearing pale blue brushed denim pants and a pale blue shirt that made his blue eyes look nearly luminous.
royal
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A box of royal blue was opened by the Court Chamberlain and the awards placed over the recipients' shoulders.
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They had selected a full-skirted velvet frock in a deep royal blue which set off her auburn hair.
■ NOUN
baby
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These cotton yellows, peachy pinks and baby blues transport us, delighted, to the land of Tupperware.
sky
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Walls a saturated sky blue , broken by gray the color of storm clouds.
■ VERB
beat
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There was always a way to beat bad weather blues and enjoy ourselves.
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Can a younger lover beat the ageing blues - or would a change of style do the trick for you?
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a bolt from/out of the blue
▪
Even so, dismissal should never come as a bolt from the blue, however exalted your place in the corporate hierarchy.
▪
Inspiration hit me like a bolt from the blue on the way home.
▪
The Mishcon job came like a bolt from the blue.
between the devil and the deep blue sea
dusty blue/pink etc
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The rising sun slowly turns the drab greys and dull browns of the mountains to patches of pale gold and dusty pinks.
in a (blue) funk
▪
Sam drove off in a funk .
▪
At extremely fast tempos this lilt is lost and they even out as they would in a funk or fusion context.
▪
Montross is frank enough to admit that all this put him in a funk for a third of the season.
medium brown/blue etc
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Beyond Volkswagens and medium blue cars or big black cars, Carla could not tell one car from the other.
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It came in two colours, medium brown or medium grey; it shone with a slightly oily sheen.
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She was slim, five feet four inches tall, and had medium brown skin.
once in a blue moon
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Once in a blue moon Eric will offer to help with the dishes, but usually he doesn't do any housework at all.
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I used to spend a lot of time in London, but now I only go there once in a blue moon.
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We go out to eat once in a blue moon.
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And Eleanor was damn lucky to have him as an escort once in a blue moon.
▪
So now he just comes round once in a blue moon.
▪
That happens only once in a blue moon, when the weather is cold enough and thus the ice thick enough.
slate blue/grey
▪
By flaking off successive layers, the tree displays a bark of beige, cinnamon, lime green and slate blue.
▪
Immature has tail brown but throat white, with most of bill slate blue.
▪
Matching long-line briefs, £19, s, m, l, Also in classic navy and slate grey.
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Most remarkably it continued to function under California's midday sun, when it's slate grey shell was too hot hold!
▪
The falls of the flowers are a delicate yellowish green veined with slate blue.
▪
The sky past his profiled head had gone slate blue above a jagged paleness of snow.
▪
They were hard pin-points of slate blue beneath bushy eyebrows.
the boys in blue
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I can tell you the boys in blue are pleased you've turned up.
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I could just as easily send the Boys in Blue.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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Carolyn's the one dressed in blue .
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I especially like the rich blues and reds of the painting.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Come to think of it, Columbia wouldn't have been around if it hadn't been for the blues.
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Expect thunder, expect lightning, expect country and blues and rock and expect him to offer the unexpected, too.
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From the heart of a large flat pebble-shaped stone he has revealed two fishes in brilliant, iridescent blues.
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He saw a woman in the rich blue of a nursing uniform at the wheel.
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His eyes are a washed-out blue .
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On the other hand, blue and green are subdued and bring calm to a garden.
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The elegant spring spires of delphiniums are perhaps the truest of the blues.
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These good ole boys could turn the blues into a rainbow.