I. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
be caught with your hands/fingers in the till (= to be caught stealing from your employer )
click your fingers (= make a short sound with your fingers to get someone's attention )
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She clicks her fingers and he comes running.
drummed...fingers
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Lisa drummed her fingers impatiently on the table.
finger bowl
finger nail ( also fingernail )
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She had small hands with polished finger nails.
fish finger
glove/hand/finger puppet
index finger
jabbed...finger
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When I didn’t respond, he jabbed a finger at me.
little finger
middle finger
mind your head/fingers etc
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Mind your head – the ceiling’s a bit low.
outstretched arms/hands/fingers
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She ran to meet them with outstretched arms.
point the finger of blame at sb (= say that someone is responsible for something bad )
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I couldn’t believe it when they started pointing the finger of blame at me.
pointed...finger
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He stood up and pointed his finger at me.
point...finger of blame
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I don’t want to point a finger of blame at anyone.
prick yourself/prick your finger (= accidentally make a hole in your skin )
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She had pricked her finger on a rose thorn.
ring finger
run your fingers through sb’s hair (= touch someone’s hair in a loving way )
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He ran his fingers through her smooth silky hair.
slender legs/arms/fingers etc
wagging...finger
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‘You naughty girl!’ Mom said, wagging her finger at me.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
little
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In other places such as the street I make short dabbing strokes with my little finger .
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They fidget, sit on their feet and fold little fingers around stubby pencils, sweating out an exercise in mathematics.
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I thought your flat feet were firmly on the ground and your grubby little fingers always ready to grab the golden egg.
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The last thing he did was bite off the little finger of her left hand.
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She dug the nail of her little finger deeply in behind the left ear.
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Before long, Jennifer has Carlos wrapped around her little finger .
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I use it on my little finger and my fingers are real thin.
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I gave a little finger wave and he waved back.
long
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He smiles a satisfied smile and takes his long fingers and grazes them softly over my braids.
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Its long fingers curled in agony, then relaxed.
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She reached to enfold his long fingers , which were so fragrant from the soaps he still used, and overused.
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An array of long thin fingers of salty water descends, interspersed with a similar array of rising fresh water.
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Harding gathers the dice up with his long fingers , feeling the smooth surfaces with his thumb as if he was blind.
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Rubberneck chewed his fingernails; they were long bony fingers , bitten to the quick.
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He gestures too much with his long arms and fingers .
middle
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I was squealing with delight at the tricks his middle finger was playing when suddenly Captain leapt on us growling.
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Torn webbing between his right ring and middle fingers and a torn knee cartilage in 1992.
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Pausing at the door he turned once more and extended the middle finger of his right hand towards the bed.
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The hand withdrew, three middle fingers slathered.
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You will often see recipients tapping the table with the three middle fingers of one hand while their cup is being filled.
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The middle finger traced a heart on her lips.
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When the Reclusiarch passed back again, each initiate must hold out his middle finger , pointing stiffly forward from his fist.
slender
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She ticks them off, one by one, on her long slender fingers .
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Idly she traced the pattern of the marble-topped table with a slender finger .
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Lissa's slender fingers curled into fists at her sides.
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She returned to the letter in her hand, turning it over in her slender fingers before opening it.
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Long slender fingers , wedding ring, and a huge ruby on another ring.
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She admired his hands, seeing the slender curled fingers and pink palms as if for the first time.
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It was a small hand, with slender , tapering fingers .
■ NOUN
index
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Carolyn took it quickly and inserted her index finger under one of the flaps of folded-over, Sellotaped paper.
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Yo mumbles to herself at the windows outlining her hairline with a contemplative index finger .
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Roll your index finger evenly from left to right on the ink-pad, then again on the paper.
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I glanced up,-keeping my place in the text with an index finger .
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Indeed, he kept them closed as he opened the Gospels, and planted his long index finger blindly upon the page.
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Using your thumb and index finger , remove soft, new green shoots to just above the set of leaves.
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Using your index finger , make numerous indentations into dough.
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He beckons to Fifi with his index finger crooked.
ring
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According to Winston, men generally have a longer ring finger than index finger.
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Dunne has a dislocated ring finger on his right hand.
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So, do tomboyish girls, and footballers have very long ring fingers ?
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In November 1991, Jones suffered ligament and joint damage to his left ring finger in a dirt-bike accident.
■ VERB
catch
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I saw one lying under the dresser and pulled it out gingerly lest the spur catch my finger .
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Record numbers are being caught with fingers in the till - like ex-Mirror chief Robert Maxwell.
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He had trouble finding them and managed to catch his finger in a filing cabinet.
click
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Then he turned and clicked his fingers .
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He clicked his fingers for Nosey to follow him, then rode northwards in the dusk.
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At last Fitzosbert stopped at one cell door and clicked his fingers .
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His face set, he raised a hand and clicked his fingers .
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He clicked his fingers and the Zippo came alive in his hand.
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Expected to jump to it just because you click your fingers !
count
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You can count on the fingers of one hand the times Mr Kinnock has jumped in among the public.
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She counts on her fingers , like a baby.
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Mr. Vaz Well, perhaps we can count them on the fingers of one hand.
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One day, Mom noticed him counting on his fingers under the desk.
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The number of people whom they knew personally in Berlin could have been counted on the fingers of one hand.
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Gao Yang counted seven old fingers buried in the steamed bun, which had long since given up its original shape.
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The latter can, declares S E Finer with pardonable exaggeration, be counted on one's fingers and toes.
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Sounds as if they were counting on their fingers !
cross
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Scientists and engineers have buttoned their lip, and crossed their fingers that the reckoning wouldn't come in their own day.
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At this point, they can only stand back, cross their fingers and hope for fireworks.
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As the others crossed their fingers and held their breath, he gently eased away the back plate.
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Careta held up a hand and crossed his fingers .
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Always ready to knock on wood, throw salt over my shoulder, bite my tongue, cross my fingers .
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She took a deep breath, and crossed her fingers .
cut
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The burr will prevent a proper fitting being made and can also cut your fingers .
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Still, what if one of them fell, cut a finger , banged a head?
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He'd cut my fingers off if I used it.
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In early December, Aesop cut his finger opening a can of cling peaches.
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The rough metal edge cut into his finger tip.
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It never broke cleanly but flaked apart into strands that cut their fingers if they weren't careful.
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Keep a packet of pitta bread in the freezer, heat up under the grill from frozen and cut into fingers .
drum
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Harrison drummed his fingers impatiently against the surface of the table.
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Bowman drummed his fingers on the console.
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He drums his fingers on the chairback as he passes.
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Mulcahey drummed his fingers on the table, tat-tat, tat-tat, rat-a-tat-tat-tat.
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I drummed my fingers on the desktop.
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She drummed her fingers on her knees, and turned back to the news.
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Herr Nordern gulped his beer and drummed his fingers on the table.
feel
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She felt his fingers spring away again, relieved.
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I felt her bony finger on my shoulder.
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Stephen felt Weir's fingers digging into the flesh between his ribs.
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I felt his fingers wrapping around mine.
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I can feel the fingers spread out now, stroking me.
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Primo could feel his fingers losing hold of the on / off switch of his intake valve.
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She could feel his fingers tracing the curve of her neck.
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He could feel in his finger the pressure of the trigger coiling.
hold
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The men stood motionless as Weir held his finger to his lips.
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Some people held up three fingers , signifying Earnhardt's car number.
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Suddenly she giggled and I realised I was still holding her fingers .
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I hold my finger in front of her nose; still she does not blink.
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In his mind's eye, Vologsky could see Major Tzann seated at his desk, holding it between trembling fingers .
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I held her between my fingers .
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One hand clutches a walking stick; the other tenderly holds the thinner fingers of his wife.
jab
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He jabs his finger to slam home his message and he is happy to press flesh and kiss babies.
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Thresher jabbed his finger at Thomas, accusing her of calling his 14-year-old daughter without permission.
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I jab a finger forward and Lucker nods in big up and down sweeps.
keep
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When an animal that has no horns is named, everyone keeps their fingers down.
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The whole show, Dominic says, is about keeping your finger on the button.
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It is the way they keep their finger on the pulse and keep in touch with their audience.
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Meanwhile, supply sergeants throughout the battalion were keeping their fingers crossed.
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There is little danger from a Lionfish to yourself, so long as you keep your fingers clear of the venomous spines.
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People have kept their fingers crossed and made do.
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When you're reading a speech ordinarily you have either to keep your finger on the spot or find it again.
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To find Dornoch you just kept sliding your finger up the well-defined northeastern coast until you crossed the Dornoch Firth.
lay
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The odds are that the young man would not have laid a finger on her, but what if ...?
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Then she lay a finger on my lips and slid out of bed like a dancer, one leg extended.
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He wouldn't dare lay a finger on any of us.
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Had Clyde laid a finger on Jake, he would have drawn back a stub.
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How could any man want to lay a finger on her, never mind father her children?
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Jasper laid a finger to his lips and tried the cloakroom door.
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My dad always brought me up saying you never lay a finger on a woman, never ever.
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Fran's gone to make sure no one lays a finger on a brother, that's what it is.
let
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Saucy Cecil Parkinson lets his fingers do the talking about the one that got away.
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With computers you can write quickly, letting your fingers fly from key to key.
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She sighed and let her fingers move slowly down the dark, smooth surface of the glass.
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With Arsenal and Liverpoolthe next 2 games lets keep our fingers crossed.
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She closed her eyes and let her fingers burrow through the tissue paper until she felt the lace of the collar.
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Some one, after all, has to play scapegoat. Let your fingers do the talking Got the message?
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Slowly let your fingers unfurl and let the barbell roll down to your fingertips.
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He let his fingers drift gently over the ridges.
lick
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Having finished her bag of chips, Buzz licked her fingers , switched the light on, and prepared for bed.
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He licked his finger , which was wet.
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Jan licked sherry from her finger and leaned toward me.
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I licked a finger and rubbed it on the stone.
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Nanny licked a finger and held it up to the wind.
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Henry licked his finger , then rubbed it against his trouser leg.
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Léonie licked Thérèse's fingers to see if they tasted the same as her own.
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Sorrel rubbed against my palm and licked my fingers .
lift
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But once the women returned, the men weren't prepared to lift a finger to help.
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Actually, the crunch did come, and the liberals never lifted a finger to save us.
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I never lift a finger more.
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King Charles did not lift a finger to save her.
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Now, without lifting a finger to assist, he gets a wonderful biography.
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As if Otto had lifted a finger during her long months of planning!
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All without lifting a finger or taking your eyes off the traffic for one moment.
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The crowd cheered when the roof fell in, while firemen lifted no finger or hose through it all.
move
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I begged him to - and he moved his finger !
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Still, you never know when the moving finger might tap you on the shoulder.
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Feeling drugged and quite incredibly wanton, she moved her fingers to his jaw.
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Then she moved her finger along the number line, counting by ones.
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Even her hands were touching something pleasant - silky, soft; she moved her fingers luxuriously, then slowly consciousness returned.
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She moved her fingers delicately as if caressing the wind.
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He did not move his fingers a millimetre.
point
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Briefly, if the referee points his fingers this indicates that some one had done something wrong.
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Similarly, the army, when faced with a budget cut, never points the finger at desk-bound lieutenant colonels.
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And there was also the matter of the anonymous phone call, pointing the finger squarely at Amanda.
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If we start pointing fingers , bad things start getting in the newspapers and everyone gets mad.
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As soon as I finished the drink, various players started to point their fingers at me again.
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Coverage of the Henan scandal also points the finger at inaction by the provincial authorities.
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And he pointed the finger at a couple of his team mates.
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When a child is learning to read, he will point with his finger to the word on which he is concentrating.
prick
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Matters were not helped by Maeve occasionally pricking her finger with the needle, but at last she had had her say.
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The coarse fibers of the rope pricked her fingers .
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The princess tried the spindle, but pricked her finger .
pull
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So, come on shoe companies, pull your finger out, deliver the goods you advertise.
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It would be a magnet, like Victor said, pulling at my fingers and the palm of my hand.
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Start below the lowest knuckle and pull along each finger and thumb with your other thumb and index finger.
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Then he would try to deceive me: he would show me my nose which he had pulled off with his fingers .
raise
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I raised the fingers of one hand, and slowly I folded them into the palm.
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He starts to speak and she raises her finger to her lips.
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The bails remained on, but umpire Chris King raised his finger , indicating Border had got bat to ball.
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She raised a finger to her nose and blew air through the free nostril.
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Stephen pushed him away and raised his finger to his lips.
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Then she raised one finger in the air.
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Harold raised a finger , to indicate that they should listen.
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She looked over at Linda, deadpan, and raised two fingers .
run
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Lindsey found herself battling against an almost overwhelming and totally illogical desire to run her fingers through its neatness.
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Eliza wet her forefinger, gently lifted the mustache, and ran the finger underneath.
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Try running your finger along the side of the worm and you will find this out.
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Robbie had to fight down an impulse to reach out and run her fingers over the dark mat.
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I ran an experimental finger down between the stacks, being careful not to disturb the order.
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You can run your finger all the way to Glasgow.
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Then she ran her fingers ever so softly through his hair.
slip
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He slowly pulled the object toward him, careful not to let it slip from his fingers .
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I slipped my fingers through the loops and shook.
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He held it up, and let it slip between his fingers .
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I slipped my fingers into them, lifted out a few pieces and let them clink back into the can.
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It put him off his stroke and the chopper slipped , cutting his finger .
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Its grip consisted of brass knuckles, was a chain of rings through which Weary slipped his stubby fingers .
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Zen pushed on, understanding how Italo Baldoni must have felt when the young Miletti slipped through his fingers .
snap
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He relished the image, saw it clearly, felt the tendons on Carter's neck snapping under his fingers .
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I snapped my finger in front of his eyes, and a trance was broken.
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He snapped his fingers at the barmaid and ordered a brandy.
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The nurse snapped her fingers , and they sprang into motion.
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Five minutes into the First Act Dotty Blundell forgot her lines and snapped her fingers for a prompt.
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Zak was nodding his mop of curls beside me and had begun snapping his fingers rather fast.
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He gave a royal snort, either of disappointment or relief, and snapped his fingers for another round of wine.
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There is no genie to snap its fingers and whiplash me out of this world I am living in.
stick
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Masklin stuck a finger in his ear and wiggled it around.
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You must have stuck your finger in there or something.
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I clenched out the light and stuck my fingers in my ears.
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You might have to press in material sticking out with your finger , without smearing the wood.
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It was so cold that it burnt her, so cold that it stuck to her fingers .
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Once the rope was removed, he rolled Gao Ma on to his back and again stuck a finger under his nose.
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It will be they who commit the most crime, it will be they who will stick two fingers up to conventional mores.
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George stuck out his index finger and raised his thumb.
touch
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Don't touch with your fingers after it is cleaned.
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Yet I had to touch it with my fingers to become convinced.
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With an unconscious sigh of her own, she touched her fingers to her cheek, just as he had done.
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Avoid transferring allergens to your eyes by touching them with your fingers or gloves.
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She touched Granny's fingers ,-and they were as chilly as stone.
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I touched their fingers , but fell back to the ground.
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Bobo touched her crooked finger to her lips and then lowered her hand, palm upwards.
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We touch his bony fingers and hands, uncover his face and look at him.
wag
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He shouted and wagged his finger .
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She wags her finger at his thumb-sized back.
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The second man smiles, wags his index finger and picks up a copy of his company's annual report.
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Walking sticks and umbrellas menace me, wagging fingers harass my sleep.
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The man with the thin hair continued to shout and wag his finger .
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John wagged his finger at her.
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Doktor wagged a metronome finger at me.
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I wagged my finger at him, telling him that he had been extremely lucky.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
I/you can count sb/sth on (the fingers of) one hand
a snap of sb's fingers
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What else? exclaimed Papa with a snap of his fingers.
be all fingers and thumbs
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She was all fingers and thumbs - and worry.
burn your fingers/get your fingers burned
cross your fingers
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A memo said that doctors were told "with crossed fingers" that the company was doing safety studies.
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People vote, cross their fingers, and hope for the best.
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Always ready to knock on wood, throw salt over my shoulder, bite my tongue, cross my fingers.
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As the others crossed their fingers and held their breath, he gently eased away the back plate.
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At this point, they can only stand back, cross their fingers and hope for fireworks.
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Careta held up a hand and crossed his fingers.
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Jessica skipped and prayed and crossed her fingers.
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Scientists and engineers have buttoned their lip, and crossed their fingers that the reckoning wouldn't come in their own day.
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This will pass, I told myself, crossing my fingers; everything passes.
have green fingers
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He had green fingers, my grandfather. He could grow anything.
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The flower show season is upon us, and whether you have a green thumb or not, you should take a look at your garden.
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Tonight these dames were going to have greener fingers than Percy Thrower.
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You really do have green fingers.
have sticky fingers
have your hands/fingers in the till
itchy fingers
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I tucked the money deep in my pocket, away from itchy fingers.
lay a hand/finger on sb
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He wouldn't dare lay a finger on any of us.
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I laid a hand on his hair.
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I lay a hand on his chest and felt him breathe, mile after mile through the Kentucky night.
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If she laid a hand on him, what could he do besides run for it?
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Some one laid a hand on me.
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Stuyvesant responded by laying hands on To bias Feake, who delivered the document, arresting and eventually banishing him.
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The odds are that the young man would not have laid a finger on her, but what if ...?
let sth slip (through your fingers)
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And on most of the occasions when they had been alone together he hadn't let a chance slip by.
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As an aside, the parties let it slip that the idea of a true playoff system had been scrapped.
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Attention creates the foreground of consciousness, letting the rest slip into peripheral awareness.
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Be careful lads not to let this one slip away!
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Colin, on the other hand, became discouraged and let things slip .
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He held it up, and let it slip between his fingers.
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The Celtics let this one slip away slowly, painfully and needlessly.
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Wrapped up with visions of kissing Deborah, I had ignored his bedtime rituals and let him slip away.
not lift a finger (to do sth)
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King Charles did not lift a finger to save her.
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The Government are not lifting a finger to help the economy of Renfrewshire.
point the/a finger at sb
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After much speculation we all started to point the finger at Dawn.
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Each time there is a suicide bomb or attack we should point a finger at ourselves?
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It needed to point a finger at Simpson, the manufacturer.
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Now the computer's resources are to be used to help point the finger at the possible killer of James Bulger.
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The recreationists point the finger at developers.
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There shall not need anyone but myself to point the finger at me.
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To minimise his sentence, Boesky pointed the finger at people he had dealt with.
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Why did no one point a finger at a man for yielding to his desires?
rake your fingers (through sth)
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He raked his fingers through fur the color of weak tea, brown, red, golden tint of gaslight.
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He raked his fingers through his hair and watched it spring back around his face in untidy tufts.
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He raked his fingers through his hair, as if debating what to say next, and she followed the movement.
snap your fingers
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He gave a royal snort, either of disappointment or relief, and snapped his fingers for another round of wine.
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One of the guys snaps his fingers, and the nearest workman veers in a sharp turn and sprints to his side.
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The nurse snapped her fingers, and they sprang into motion.
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Those riverbeds could snap an axle as crisply as the way that Zervos snapped his fingers when he danced.
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Those were the times when a hunter found out how good he was.. Granny snapped her fingers.
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When finished, each boy was to raise his hand and snap his fingers to be acknowledged.
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Zak snapped his fingers even faster and started humming.
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Zak was nodding his mop of curls beside me and had begun snapping his fingers rather fast.
work your fingers to the bone
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His mother had had a hard life - had worked her fingers to the bone bringing up six children.
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In those days we got up at 5 in the morning, and worked our fingers to the bone.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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Fingers of flame spread in all directions.
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In the glass was a finger of pale gold wine.
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She ran a finger along the spine of the book.
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Ted anxiously tapped his fingers on the table.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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But next instant, he came closer and his fingers cradled her face, the box in her hands keeping them apart.
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Don't get too much ink on your finger or the print will not be clear.
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She hung in the room, strong arms around her waist, strong fingers around her legs.
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She ran a sticky finger down the monthly balance-sheet, then checked the figures against the handwritten bank statement.
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The little finger of his right hand was cut off in a corn picker, 1931.
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Then the patient's arms are placed on a table in front of him with the hands flat and fingers spread open.
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Which meant that all of his fingers were presently occupied.
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Your fingers are the stars which do not touch themselves.
II. verb
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a snap of sb's fingers
▪
What else? exclaimed Papa with a snap of his fingers.
be all fingers and thumbs
▪
She was all fingers and thumbs - and worry.
have green fingers
▪
He had green fingers, my grandfather. He could grow anything.
▪
The flower show season is upon us, and whether you have a green thumb or not, you should take a look at your garden.
▪
Tonight these dames were going to have greener fingers than Percy Thrower.
▪
You really do have green fingers.
have sticky fingers
have your hands/fingers in the till
itchy fingers
▪
I tucked the money deep in my pocket, away from itchy fingers.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
Casey was only fingered as the mastermind of the operation after he was dead.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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But soon he relapsed into his dangerous black mood, fingering the razor-sharp edge of his knife, open in his pocket.
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Cold blackness grasped at him, fingering its way through his warm blood, just waiting its moment.
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She darted off straight after that, leaving Melanie fingering her cheek in surprise.
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The sermon he found surprisingly proper, but Adams was repelled to see poor wretches fingering their prayer beads.