I. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a cat scratches sb
▪
If a cat gets angry, it may scratch you with its claws.
a scratch mark
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The chairs had made scratch marks on the floor.
scrape out/scratch out/eke out a living (= to barely earn enough money to live )
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The farmers in these drought-stricken areas are barely able to scratch out a living.
scratch paper
scratch your head (= especially because you do not understand something )
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He scratched his head and started looking through the drawers again.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
back
▪
I scratched the back of my neck, picked up the cue stick, and tried an easy shot.
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He disengaged and scratched the back of his neck.
chin
▪
He put down the phone and scratched his chin .
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He scratched chin , neck, belly.
door
▪
Gaily let in the cat, scratching at the door .
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A few nights later, the husband and his wife were awakened by scratching on the door .
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At once he ran to the house and began scratching at the door .
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He's probably locked in the kitchen, scratching at the door trying to get out.
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I hear a scratching sound at the door .
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One day, the missionary was awakened by the sound of scratching at the door , and the noise of whining.
ear
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But then she scratched me between the ears and I started purring despite myself.
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He reached down and scratched Bone behind the ears .
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The first rabbit stopped in a sunny patch and scratched his ear with rapid movements of his hind-leg.
face
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They were scratching their faces with broken bottles.
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I scratch my face to feel a bloodless mound.
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There were still scratches on his face on Sunday.
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The old woman's fingers curved into talons and she scratched at Jazzbeaux's face .
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All women do things to themselves like that here; cut their wrists, scratch their faces .
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I scratched everywhere but my face , and Mandy had to take absence from work to take care of me.
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It used to scratch your face .
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Don't twiddle your hair, pull your ears, scratch your face , nor rub your nose or chin.
hand
▪
Silence and a faster scratching of her hand .
head
▪
How shall we word a letter so as not to offend the parents? Head starts scratching himself.
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Mr Hellyer straightened up, moved his cap to the back of his head and scratched it.
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When the system's first efforts were shown to Clarks' cobblers, many a grey head was scratched and shaken.
nose
▪
He drew his hand away, quite unobtrusively, he thought, and scratched his nose .
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I had to use great concentration and all of the strength that I had to reach up and scratch my nose .
surface
▪
So far, research into psychoneuroimmunology has done no more than scratch the surface of this potentially important topic.
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I would watch the broom scratch across the surface of the floors and on the stairs in front of the house.
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But Mr Smith has merely scratched the surface of Labour's election promises.
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The end of the upper branches scratched the surface like phonograph needles.
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Mr Burrows added cultivator tines to scratch the surface and provide an adequate tilth for the rapeseed.
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After purchasing a card from a vendor or through the mail, customers scratch off the surface to reveal their account number.
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The above four cases only scratch the surface .
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But after a summer in Trinidad, he realized he had only scratched the surface of the eclectic and complex belief system.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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Be careful not to scratch the table with those scissors.
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Don't scratch - it will only make the itching worse.
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Don't scratch - the rash will get infected.
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Don't use that cleaner - it'll scratch the sink.
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He sat scratching his head, trying to think of the answer.
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He sat thinking, scratching his head.
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I scratched my hand on a rusty nail.
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I scratched the side of the car as I was backing it into the driveway.
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I had several mosquito bites, and it was difficult not to scratch them.
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She found her friend, Felicia Moon, bruised and scratched after a fight with her husband.
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The cat scratched me while I was playing with her.
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The cat will scratch if you make her mad.
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The dog kept scratching at the door to be let in.
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The medicine relieves the itching, so the child doesn't scratch so much.
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There's a spot in the middle of my back that itches - can you scratch it for me?
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Well, I guess we can scratch that idea.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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For a couple of years he scratched out a living, feeling sorry for himself and dissipating his savings.
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I scratch my face to feel a bloodless mound.
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Maura rubbed her face against his cheek and felt his stubble scratching against her smooth skin.
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One of these involves using the hind leg to scratch an area of skin to which an irritant has been applied.
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She scratched the knife along the zipper of my jeans and threw the blade again.
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They scratched themselves, and worse.
II. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
mark
▪
The last of his scratch marks have faded now but his memories never will.
■ VERB
bring
▪
The Electricity Board will tell you what you need to bring the installation up to scratch .
build
▪
The man who was building the city from scratch .
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Most will evolve naturally from smaller towns and counties, rather than being built from scratch .
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It will built from scratch by Pickering Staplina in their Lancashire factory.
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Effective administration needs people, managers, unswerving devotion and discipline; building from scratch needs capital and carefully calculated investment.
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They don't have to build their stores from scratch .
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Before he could build the electronics to go inside the equipment, Ryan had to build the casing from scratch .
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Grammar schools already had adequate facilities or could build them from scratch .
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A new one has to be built from scratch but fabrication can only start when plans are eventually acquired from York.
come
▪
But does it come up to scratch for educational value?
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The inquiry will take up to three years but councillors are determined to make sure properties come up to scratch .
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Are we then, at our age, to have a fight, to come to scratches and blows?
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However, while the clean side of things is fine, the Laney's distorted sounds fail to come up to scratch .
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If they don't come up to scratch , we can complain to their professional body and seek redress.
make
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He had won that place by raising cattle on pastureland made from scratch .
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And to get that in Arizona you had to make it from scratch .
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D., wants to know how to make egg rolls from scratch .
start
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As she explained, it was not easy to start from scratch .
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The group disbanded without drawing any conclusions, and knew they would have to start from scratch learning about fueltank explosions.
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It would be arrogant foolishness to ignore that experience and to start from scratch designing a stringing by ear.
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Once more, Machanguana is starting from scratch .
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So, in one sense I was not starting entirely from scratch .
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We do not have to start from scratch .
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The only way to design tastefully was to start from scratch , he had said.
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Frank, like an old sergeant, had to start them all from scratch .
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
start from scratch/zero
▪
Peter the Great had to start from scratch when he built St. Petersburg.
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As she explained, it was not easy to start from scratch.
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It would be arrogant foolishness to ignore that experience and to start from scratch designing a stringing by ear.
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Once more, Machanguana is starting from scratch.
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The only way to design tastefully was to start from scratch, he had said.
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The revenue from the product also starts from zero when none are sold and rises proportionately to invoiced sales.
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The trainees work hard, but they must start from scratch.
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This is especially true if the group starts from scratch with no designated roles or previous experience of working together.
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We do not have to start from scratch.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
a scratch on the car door
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His face was covered in scratches.
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It's just a scratch - nothing serious.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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He looked with concern at the scratches on Lucy's face, then poured tea which he insisted she drank at once.
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Small imperfections such as cuts and scratches can be sanded out with fine sandpaper.
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So, in one sense I was not starting entirely from scratch .
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Stories can be begun from scratch or spun off samples.
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That was kind of from scratch .
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That was the same idea Albiez had in 1990 when he decided to make an electric car from scratch .
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The former captain of Staffordshire, who played off scratch for many years, beat his age by two shots.
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The last of his scratch marks have faded now but his memories never will.
III. adjective
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
The kitchen has a beautiful wooden floor, but it's badly scratched.