I. adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a wild accusation (= with no evidence to support it )
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She’s made all sorts of wild accusations about him, hasn’t she?
a wild bird
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Our organization aims to protect wild birds.
a wild cat (= a type of cat that does not live with people )
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The African wild cat is bigger than ordinary domestic cats.
a wild creature
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Damage to the environment affects all wild creatures.
a wild dog
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Packs of wild dogs roamed the countryside.
a wild exaggeration (= an extreme exaggeration that is not at all realistic )
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He claims to be 120 years old, but that's is clearly a wild exaggeration.
a wild flower
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The meadows were covered with wild flowers.
a wild guess (= one made without much thought or information )
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I made a wild guess and I got the answer right first time.
a wild rumour (= one that is completely untrue )
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It has been a week of wild rumour and exaggeration.
beyond your wildest dreams (= better or more than you ever hoped for )
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Suddenly he was wealthy beyond his wildest dreams.
drive sb crazy/wild (= make someone feel very sexually excited )
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He drives women wild.
go wild/mad/white etc with sth
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The crowd was going wild with excitement.
grow wild (= grow without anyone looking after them )
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The plants grow wild by the river.
let your imagination run wild ( also let your imagination run riot British English ) (= allow yourself to imagine many strange or wonderful things )
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He uses painting as a way of letting his imagination run riot.
not/never in your wildest dreams (= used to say that you had never expected something to happen )
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Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would win the competition.
wild boar
wild card
wild country (= not used or farmed by people )
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I love the wild country of the Scottish Highlands.
wild excesses (= very extreme behaviour )
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The Press Complaints Commission criticized the wilder excesses of tabloid journalism.
wild goose chase
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It looks like they’ve sent us on a wild goose chase.
wild plants
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Many wild plants are in danger of dying out.
wild rice
wild rumours (= rumours that are not likely to be true )
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This led to wild rumours of American involvement in the attack.
wild/domestic/farm animals
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cattle, sheep, and other domestic animals
wildest imaginings
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In my wildest imaginings , I could not have foreseen what a wonderful life lay before me.
wild/idle speculation (= unlikely to be true )
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Such fears are wild speculation.
wild/mad eyes (= very angry, afraid etc )
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He stared at them with wild eyes.
with reckless/wild abandon
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They drank and smoked with reckless abandon.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
animal
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Amy Fisher, dubbed the Long Island Lolita, was described as a wild animal by the judge.
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He was never bothered by wild animals , either.
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Sometimes I killed a wild animal , and then I had meat to eat.
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Orstedt complains wild animals get caught in the fencing while trying to reach the water.
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Edinburgh ensures me that no wild animals are caught to replace dead animals.
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A week later the lion was trapped by a net some hunters had left as a wild animal trap.
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The sanctions could take the form of a ban on virtually all trade in wild animal products with the two countries.
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Also patron of veterinarians and wild animals .
beast
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A wild beast does not at once become tame, or a new breed arise in an instant.
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Later the slave was recaptured and sentenced to die in the arena facing a wild beast .
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Such rules serve to distinguish further basic social categories: friends from enemies, domestic animals from wild beasts , and so on.
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I am really a wild beast , you know.
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The Kurd entered the first of them cautiously, sniffing for wild beasts , then beckoned them in.
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Innocent llamas and other wild beast roam the screen, helpless, bleating and afraid.
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He has proved not a tamer of wild beasts , but a tamer of wild lives.
bird
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The profits made by the sale of goods are ploughed back into wild bird conservation.
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The meat of these wild birds is dark and rich compared to that of domestic ducks.
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They can even be frightened by wild birds flying overhead, which they mistakenly think are predators.
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The second group represented wild birds transplanted from not far away.
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We were screened from the wild birds as we hurried along behind high earth banks planted with willow.
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Culmination, the longed-for moment when a wild bird would cat from his hand or perch on his shoulder, never occurred.
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The future of our wild birds and environment is under threat.
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Beautiful wild birds unfold their silver wings.
boar
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The wild boar had been hiding behind a large and actually rather unconvincing bush for a hundred years or so.
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The origin of the ancestral wild boar is thought to be the Crimea.
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If swine, then big wild boar , hunting quietly in the woods for something, mooching about and turning things up.
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Succubi, devils, witches, magicians, vampires, werewolves, ghosts and wild boars .
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Deer, wild boar , so we can claim to be connoisseurs.
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It can also be used with domestic pork to make it taste more like wild boar .
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It got off to a hairy start with several heated discussions about what a wild boar is.
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He walks along a narrow path to a ridge where wild boar , hyenas and the golden mole rat occasionally roam.
card
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The wild card is the idea of contamination from deep space.
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Only a wild card like Miss Shelly Thomas of Riverdale was likely to have sympathy!
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The wild card is Baroness Mallalieu.
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The Salomon compensation game, like the job placement game for trainees, has a political wild card in it.
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The Wimbledon champion has accepted a wild card entry for the grass court event in Halle.
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But in another way, it injects a wild card into the government's careful script for a controlled political transition.
cat
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They start to refine their miaows in a way that wild cats never seem to do.
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A wild cat passes near, somebody spots a yak, there is talk of a new plague of wolves.
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Of the three types of general body fur on the wild cat , the down hairs are the most numerous.
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Just then two big wild cats came down to the shore from the mountains.
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Instead, she began to light like a wild cat .
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There is wildlife here in abundance; deer, wild cats , red squirrels, golden eagles, ospreys and reindeer.
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The people were afraid of these wild cats , and the women cried out.
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The second wild cat ran back up into the mountains.
creature
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All wild creatures behave in the same way when presented with a cache of food and plenty of competition for it.
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Where great, wild creatures ranged, the vermin prosper.
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Oh, wild creature , it's you I've dared to demand in the garden of paradise.
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They need help, my dear, as our wild creatures have needed help, and that is why I must go.
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And be quick, watchful, clever, like a wild creature that must elude the hunters.
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The results are frequently fatal to the wild creatures .
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Allen had crept under a bush and even asleep was as difficult to see as a wild creature .
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They would tear to pieces the wild creatures they met and devour the bloody shreds of flesh.
dream
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In his wildest dreams , it had never occurred to Fabio that he might help any of these children.
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And here you both are, sweeter than my wildest dreams .
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Never in my wildest dreams had I ever thought I would even go to Hollywood, let alone work with people like him.
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To the contrary, we succeeded beyond our wildest dreams .
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It is riches beyond my wildest dreams and well worth fighting the Second World War for.
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Our mission reaps rewards far beyond our wildest dreams !
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This Tank Girl-style posse is only seven months old, but already it has grown beyond the founders' wildest dreams .
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It is not a wild dream , which I think he fears sometimes.
flower
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They are the wild flowers of our experience that are cultivated to bloom all our lives.
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They voted for a restoration of a betrayed heritage of wild flowers and healthy trees.
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The latter have produced wild flowers and butterflies which are of great interest to visitors and school children.
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We're hoping, there's just a chance, she left her car to pick wild flowers .
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The waves of colour of the wild flowers mixed with the waves of sound.
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What Charles also wanted now he had a garden of his own was wild flowers .
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There was a scent of wild flowers and grass cooling after a hot day.
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In my garden it has made a swift transition from weed to wild flower to flower.
game
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As a competitor for wild game , the mink is not resented for fulfilling its natural role.
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The history of wine dates back thousands of years and wild game has been on our tables since mankind searched for food.
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She has hunted wild game , mainly roe deer and moose, and has had little impact on livestock.
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On Genesis, Sonic is back in Sonic 3D Blast, a wild game whose title says it all.
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The annual award is to promote and encourage imaginative projects and management of wild game conservation and its habitat.
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Populations of wild game ran for cover, and were subsequently replaced by domesticated livestock.
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The use of salt as a preservative for wild game is basic, particularly prior to the days of refrigeration.
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In order to protect the diminishing herds, laws were established to control the hunting and sale of wild game .
garlic
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Each wild garlic blossom is carried on a half-round stem holding an umbel of 30 flowers.
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The sight and smell is as dizzying as the mathematics, as wild garlic time spins through the woods here.
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The hedgerows had begun to burgeon with violets, primroses, wild garlic and early pink campion.
goose
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Save yourself a wild goose chase round the shops.
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With older wild goose , braising is the preferred method of cooking.
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There have been many wild geese chased, that is not how we like to go on.
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Has a wild goose grown desperate and confused by the disappearance of all grain and berries?
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Often there was a soul-stirring glimpse of wild geese arrowing northward across an ice-blue sky on their spring migratory flight.
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They deliberately sent me on a wild goose chase.
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I thought, Don't know about a wild goose chase, this is a lame duck chase.
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Instead of that, he had become involved in what was most likely a wild goose chase.
guess
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It had thrown her when Luke Calder had made that seemingly wild guess about her, but now she could understand it.
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Shall we take a wild guess ?
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The glitter in his hooded eyes made it impossible for her to hazard even the wildest guess at what he was thinking.
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That was Renato, still entertaining the class with wild guesses .
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Still, it was discouraging that no one had ventured even a wild guess .
horse
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Roberts has found the prints of wolves, wild boar, goats, wild horse and sheep.
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Morthen kicked the wild horse and galloped up to the earth wall.
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He told me he had a wild horse for me to ride at the roundup.
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This Przewalski's stallion has the typical dun coat of a truly wild horse .
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The second type of horsemen are wild horse archers recruited from the nomadic tribes of the Kislev steppes.
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The defendant then allowed a wild horse on his land, which attacked the plaintiff.
man
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Tom was like a wild man , kicking bags and throwing clubs.
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But only a purely wild man went out on a limb of four or five minutes.
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The desire to capture had driven him like a wild man through the school yard, up the sidewalk, everywhere.
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The job was a cage where the wild man in me fretted and chafed.
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He's a bit of a wild man .
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What was it you said about coming specially to meet the wild man of the wilderness?
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Slowly, he moved nearer to me, but just then the first wild man began to get up from the ground.
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Yes, there's the old woman and the wild man hacking at a haunch of venison.
mushroom
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She adds eggs, cream, or a little crème fraiche, and wild mushrooms cooked with shallots.
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I conjured up visions of wild mushroom risotto, tiramisu, Cherry, Garcia ice cream, and currant scones.
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They had pasta to start, delicious home-made shells served with a piquant wild mushroom sauce.
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Garnish with tropical fruits and sauteed wild mushrooms , if desired.
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Garnish with reserved pancetta, chopped basil, and wild mushrooms , if used.,.
place
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It is one of the wilder places on earth and contains rainforest, and boa constrictors.
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In his final year, Babbitt got a lot more aggressive about preserving the nation's wild places .
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The silence of the wild places should be disturbed only by the sounds of nature.
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I saw wolves in a wild place .
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Cheering was the thought of other trips to other wild places still awaiting to be rediscovered!
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She knew the world was a wild place .
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The court of Aenarion was a wild place , full of desperate gaiety and feverish mirth.
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Despite its ease of access this remains a wild place , and one of many moods.
plant
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Many wild plants and animals are in danger of dying out.
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Farmers grow only a few crops, while gatherers pick from a vast range of wild plants .
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It has been set up to show the value of wild plants , particularly how they can be used in creative conservation.
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Worries about the collection and trading of wild plants were overemphasised, he said.
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Its importance will grow as the reserve takes shape and provides even more of the right habitats for wildlife and wild plants .
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Many wild plants of the wetlands were also harvested.
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Many of these wild plants we never saw in Ayrshire.
rice
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I can eat no more of the wild rice which tastes nutty and clings to the roof of my mouth.
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He serves the venison with a wild rice compote that contains sun-dried pears, a hard-to-find ingredient.
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Below: wild rice and grits are staple elements in Cajun cooking.
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We buy our wild rice in broken pieces, which cuts the expense in half.
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Oh, that's the wild rice !
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Broken pieces of wild rice are much less expensive.
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If you are making your own blend, use half wild rice and half brown.
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For dinner, Aunt Mary made pot roast, steamed asparagus, wild rice , and, for dessert, apple pie.
rose
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A wild rose has no employees.
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When the wild roses finished blooming, we collected the orange-red hips, carefully picked the skin off the compressed seeds.
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In this particular case I used wild roses , plus their buds and leaves.
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In a week the displaced honeysuckle vines, the wild roses , the grapevines, the grass, would be back.
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Instead, Frith sent them strange singers, beautiful and sick like oak-apples, like robins' pin-cushions on the wild rose .
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There were lots of wild roses and foxgloves growing in the lane and you could smell the hawthorn.
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Weeds are rampant everywhere, dandelions, nettles, dock leaves, rose-bay willow-herb, wild roses , brambles.
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They can be simple and like wild roses , suitable for woodland gardens; or formal for town gardens.
speculation
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And tougher regulations and market enforcement should slow wild speculation and heavy swings in trading.
type
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However, as described above, this plasmid was found to exhibit wild type R-M.
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To further substantiate these results, we pre-incubated the nuclear extract with a 500 molar excess of wild type or mutated oligonucleotides.
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We never observed any labelled protein when wild type oligonucleotides were used for competition.
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Some tubes should have wild-type males and pearl eye females while others should have wild type females and pearl eye males.
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In each series of probe preparations, a wild type control was prepared in an identical manner at the same time.
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This action of the mutant protein is by contrast with the recently established tumour suppressor activity of the wild type protein.
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Replacement by Ala has a deleterious effect invitro but essentially acts as the wild type invivo.
west
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In shoot out you are in a wild west street with various characters appearing from behind sheds and windows.
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Providing the military or the wild west sea don't thwart your plans, I doubt very much these climbs will disappoint.
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Suddenly lurching for a wild west alternative, the Tories now oblige Labour to talk honestly about tax.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
go hog wild
sow your wild oats
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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"It turns out she went to college with my sister." "That's wild ."
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wild horses
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Wild strawberries are much smaller than the kind you get in shops.
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wild winds
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a wild Hawaiian shirt
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a wild party
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a wild pitch
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a wild rose
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Banana trees were growing wild on the edge of the forest.
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In my opinion, wild animals should not be kept in zoos.
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Jed was really wild in high school.
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The island has an abundance of wildlife - animals, birds and fish.
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There were lots of wild flowers growing by the roadside.
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Where do you get these wild ideas?
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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He kept laughing, cackling, making wild , insane remarks.
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He was small and hard and wild and in some ways more like an animal than a boy.
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Its flame would sink, then spring up suddenly, casting wild shadows over the wall and the floor.
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She used to pick wild ones in the fields near her home when they came into season.
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That was Renato, still entertaining the class with wild guesses.
II. noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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In one experiment gastropods whose shells were deliberately crushed by researchers and returned to the wild lived as long as uninjured controls.
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In them, and in William Burchell's mare, the wild undergoes a spiritual transformation beyond the reach of science.