YOURSELF

pronoun

COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES

be beside yourself with anger/excitement/rage etc

▪

Mom and Dad will be beside themselves with worry.

be beside yourself with rage (= be so angry that you cannot control yourself )

▪

They had been publicly humiliated and were beside themselves with rage.

brace yourself (for sth)

▪

The pilot told passengers and crew to brace themselves for a rough landing.

consider yourself lucky/fortunate (= believe you are lucky etc )

▪

Consider yourself lucky you weren’t in the car at the time.

count/consider/think yourself lucky (= believe that you are lucky in a particular situation )

▪

You should count yourself lucky you weren’t seriously hurt.

cover yourself in glory (= do something that makes people admire you )

▪

As team captain, he hasn't covered himself in glory.

cry yourself to sleep (= cry until you fall asleep )

▪

That night he cried himself to sleep.

cry yourself to sleep (= cry until you fall asleep )

▪

I used to cry myself to sleep every night.

defend/protect yourself from your enemies

▪

Our country has a right to protect itself from its enemies.

discharge yourself British English (= leave hospital before your treatment is complete )

disengage yourself

▪

Sally found it difficult to disengage herself from his embrace.

do yourself a favour (= do something good for yourself )

▪

Do yourself a favour and read as many books on the subject as possible.

do yourself an injury British English informal (= accidentally hurt yourself )

▪

Be careful with that knife or you’ll do yourself an injury.

drag yourself away from (= stop watching )

▪

Can you drag yourself away from the TV for a minute?

draw yourself upright (= stand straighter )

▪

Susan drew herself upright and thrust out her chin.

expose yourself to ridicule/criticism etc (= say or do something that may make people laugh at you, criticize you etc )

express yourself (= say what you think or feel )

▪

He is very confident and finds it easy to express himself.

feel sorry for yourself (= feel unhappy and pity yourself )

▪

It’s no good feeling sorry for yourself. It’s all your own fault.

find out for yourself

▪

I thought it best to let you find out for yourself .

find yourself in a similar/awkward etc position

▪

The refugee organizations now found themselves in a difficult position.

find yourself/your mind etc doing sth

▪

When he left, Karen found herself heaving a huge sigh of relief.

▪

She tried to concentrate, but found her mind drifting back to Alex.

forgive myself/yourself etc

▪

If anything happened to the kids I’d never forgive myself .

hold/keep (yourself) aloof from sth

▪

The doctor held himself somewhat aloof from the rest of the ship’s crew.

keep your opinions to yourself (= not say what you really think )

▪

As the youngest person there, I knew enough to keep my opinions to myself.

keep/hold yourself aloof (from sb)

▪

She had always kept herself aloof from the boys in class.

land/get yourself in hot water

▪

She got herself in hot water with the authorities.

let yourself be beaten/persuaded/fooled etc

▪

I stupidly let myself be persuaded to take part in a live debate.

look out for yourself/number one (= think only of the advantages you can get for yourself )

make an ass of yourself (= do something stupid or embarrassing )

make yourself clear (= express yourself in a way that is easy to understand )

▪

Please tell me if I’m not making myself clear.

make yourself plain (= make what you are saying clear )

▪

If you do that again you will be severely punished. Do I make myself plain?

make yourself understood (= make what you say clear to other people, especially when speaking a foreign language )

▪

I’m not very good at German, but I can make myself understood.

make yourself useful (= be helpful )

▪

Don’t just stand there – make yourself useful!

making a nuisance of yourself (= annoying other people with your behaviour )

▪

Stop making a nuisance of yourself !

prepare yourself for a race/fight etc

▪

The Chicago Bears are busy preparing themselves for the big game.

prick yourself/prick your finger (= accidentally make a hole in your skin )

▪

She had pricked her finger on a rose thorn.

pull/drag/haul yourself into a position

▪

She pulled herself into a sitting position.

pull/push yourself upright

▪

He pulled himself upright on the sofa.

put some distance between yourself and sb/sth (= go quite a long way from them )

▪

He wanted to put some distance between himself and his pursuers.

put yourself/your neck on the line (for sb) (= risk something bad happening to you )

▪

I’ve already put myself on the line for you once, and I’m not going to do it again.

resign yourself to/accept your fate

▪

I had no choice but to resign myself to my fate.

see for yourself (= find out if it is true )

▪

These chocolates are gorgeous. Try some and see for yourself .

set (yourself/sb) a goal (= decide what you or someone else should try to achieve )

▪

It helps if you set yourself clear goals.

shout yourself hoarse (= shout until your throat is sore )

▪

Matthew shouted himself hoarse until he was discovered.

smile to yourself

▪

Maggie looked at the photo and smiled to herself.

spray yourself with perfume

▪

Jody sprayed herself with some of her mother’s perfume.

worry yourself (= feel anxious, especially when there is no need to )

▪

You’re worrying yourself unnecessarily.

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

(all) by yourself

▪

Dave spent Christmas all by himself.

▪

Do you think you can move the couch by yourself?

▪

Katherine made the cookies all by herself.

▪

You can't go home by yourself in the dark.

▪

He came at once, by himself, as she had asked.

▪

One proposal by itself was anathema; the two together were poison.

▪

Our car was half full, and we were assigned to a row by ourselves.

▪

She'd managed that all by herself.

▪

Similarly, Spong believes that homosexuality, by itself, is not a sin.

▪

Stanford... well, Stanford is in a class by itself.

▪

The land by itself could not support the population.

(all) to yourself

▪

As mentioned earlier, my grandfather kept to himself in his smoke-filled room, rarely venturing out.

▪

At first there was silence as they drove along the quiet road, simply enjoying being close to each other.

▪

He can't be very bright can he, drawing attention to himself like that?

▪

He had done nothing wrong, nothing at all, but there was no way of proving it, even to himself.

▪

Today it tends to be a more exclusive activity in which theologians talk straight to each other and down to the faithful.

▪

Tutor and pupil may, however, have spoken Latin to each other.

▪

Until the beginning of this year, Congress had not applied to itself a single civil-rights or workplace statute passed this century.

▪

We continually talk to ourselves about them, losing force all the time, and feel that we are very badly treated.

(put) daylight between yourself and sb

abandon yourself to sth

▪

By the time we reached Totnes, in Devon, we had abandoned ourselves to our despair.

▪

For several blissful seconds she abandoned herself to his kiss, and to all the incredible, startling sensations exploding inside her.

▪

He began to cry in earnest, abandoning himself to a storm of weeping, sobbing against his folded arms.

▪

I abandon myself to you ... I even want you to abuse and degrade me.

▪

The Near East surrendered, abandoning itself to the invaders.

▪

The soul abdicates quickly and the flesh abandons itself to shudders.

▪

They danced wildly down the street, abandoning themselves to the night and the moon.

▪

What would it feel like to abandon herself to his touch?

abase yourself

▪

Father, plead, ingratiate and abase yourself before your all-powerful children!

▪

The members of the Political Executive Committee abased themselves once more.

absent yourself (from sth)

▪

Detained patients absent themselves, or abscond, from hospitals.

▪

Equally, she was absent herself; naturally enough - she had been the photographer.

▪

His absence bloomed in her until she grew absent herself, preternaturally agreeable.

▪

I had not had the benefit of that lovely electricity for long, but how I did miss it when it absented itself.

▪

I put my head down into my hands and absented myself mentally.

▪

It will not be desired to find all people who absent themselves without leave.

▪

Kendall absented himself this time, as was only fitting.

▪

Lucy arranged to absent herself from the expedition to allow Maggie to be alone with Phillip.

acquaint yourself with sth

▪

Residents should acquaint themselves with earthquake safety rules.

▪

An experienced photographer should have pointed out these things but it is sensible to acquaint yourself with some basic knowledge.

▪

He had had no time to acquaint himself with his fief, twice seen, and well enough served by its own.

▪

I make it my business to acquaint myself with where objects properly belong in a house.

▪

It was high time, he said, that the artist acquaint himself with the fantastic images of the microscope.

▪

Nedham and Bowes were further required to acquaint themselves with the costing of the roasting and smelting.

▪

Prospective mineral developers should acquaint themselves with the appropriate development plans.

▪

The whole endeavour was set in an international context, the Commission being charged with acquainting itself with modern penal practice abroad.

▪

You should acquaint yourself with any material that is provided about the authority.

acquit yourself well/honourably

▪

They did acquit themselves well with heavier strings and a flat pick, but in the main they were seen as fingerpicking guitars.

affiliate yourself to/with sb/sth

angry with/at yourself

▪

David was angry with himself for trusting Michael.

▪

A shiver went over her and she became angry at herself.

▪

Are we angry with ourselves and blaming something or some one else?

▪

He was so angry with himself.

▪

I felt a sharp stab of disappointment and was surprised and angry at myself.

▪

I felt so guilty, do you see, yet I felt so angry with myself for feeling that way.

▪

If you catch yourself worrying about money, then welcome the thought rather than fighting it, or getting angry with yourself.

▪

Suddenly she felt angry with herself for having let her emotions get out of control.

▪

Those who played were angry with themselves for making mistakes.

announce sb/yourself

apply yourself

▪

I wish Sam would apply himself a little more to his schoolwork.

▪

Cosby said Jackson seemed to be applying herself in school but inexplicably dropped out.

▪

He applied himself to his shoelace.

▪

If he feels some one is not applying themselves 100 percent, he won't spare reputations or ego - whoever you are.

▪

It is a consideration which I should have applied myself to the assessment of general damages to favour this plaintiff.

▪

Most of them applied themselves to their exercise books, their faces contorted with intellectual effort.

▪

She applied herself to her book but still heard laughing, laughing.

▪

The aged, heart-of-pine floors glowed under a regular coat of wax, which he applied himself.

▪

The Secretary of State should apply himself to his own evidence.

arrogate (to yourself) sth

▪

Governments should not be deluded into thinking that they can arrogate to themselves powers that they do not and can not possess.

▪

It was up to Kasparov to prove that he still merited the title he arrogated .

▪

What is significant, as Kee points out, is that the Roman Church assented to the role Constantine arrogated to himself.

▪

Why does he arrogate to himself the claim to know more about patient care than all those professionals?

ask yourself sth

assert yourself

▪

Don't be afraid to assert yourself in the interview.

▪

Abusers are often suspicious and jealous, suffer from low self-esteem and need to assert themselves.

▪

Dependent and insecure, they may find it difficult to join in and to assert themselves.

▪

The trade of Wells puts demand on Chris Carpenter to assert himself at the top of the rotation.

▪

There became room for younger, different, mainly nonconformist leaders to assert themselves, not necessarily by parliamentary means.

▪

When it was too late to alter the course of events, the party's leaders found the courage to assert themselves.

▪

Which man wants to admit that he's a wimp and needs to assert himself?

▪

Yet here again political realities asserted themselves.

▪

You have a certain window of opportunity to assert yourself.

assure yourself

▪

As he passed through he cast one last glance behind him to assure himself he was free of pursuers.

▪

As we will see shortly, it is much simpler to assure ourselves of gains from trade if it is true.

▪

Goldwater, a plain-spoken Arizonan, had assured himself of a first-ballot nomination by defeating Rockefeller in the California primary.

▪

Have you assured yourself that you can deliver whatever value is promised in your set of products and services?

▪

Having assured itself of that source, however, doesn't translate into a positive factor - merely a neutral one.

▪

Only for the sake of her own morale, she assured herself.

▪

She was blushing again, with anger, she assured herself.

▪

They interviewed us both, checked out my house and assured themselves John Leslie was not in danger.

attach yourself to sb

▪

Art History as a subject was not yet available at Cambridge: she would attach herself to the Courtauld Institute.

▪

If she wishes to attach herself to the scare, I am delighted.

▪

Joyce had become separated from her parent and attached herself to the Leighs.

▪

Particular molecules will attach themselves to the enzyme surface so that atoms can be transferred rapidly.

▪

She felt very much an ignorant outsider, but unobtrusively attached herself to charge.

▪

Shockwave attaches itself to your browser.

▪

The crew swam out from under the canoe and attached themselves to the upturned hull.

▪

They attach themselves to her in the time-honoured order: strongest take the front teats, weakest the rear.

avail yourself of sth

▪

Avail yourself of every opportunity to learn.

▪

A formal hearing may be dispensed with if the parties do not wish to avail themselves of their right to have one.

▪

Anyone wishing to avail themselves of this facility should contact the Hotel direct.

▪

Gaining New Clients - How to avail yourself of the opening of all public contracts to businesses throughout the Community.

▪

Gandhi availed himself of Western and Eastern methods.

▪

It demonstrates that in the post-Cold War world, middle powers can avail themselves of new power to build coalitions.

▪

Many high-income people can reduce their income tax liabilities very substantially by availing themselves of this loophole.

▪

Mrs Foster encouraged the staff to avail themselves of the lodge's delights.

▪

The Sergeant availed himself of the other.

be beside yourself

▪

I thought it was outrageous, and Clarisa was beside herself.

▪

I was beside myself with joy and excitement.

▪

Many observers believe that Kiley and Livingstone should be beside themselves with joy at the major concessions they have won.

▪

She was beside herself with grief.

▪

The boy was beside himself with agitation.

▪

They had been publicly assaulted and humiliated in front of a crowd of people and were beside themselves with rage.

▪

When he found that his theory exactly predicted the path of Mercury, he was beside himself with happiness for days.

▪

When the Republicans tried to eliminate some of the things I felt proudest about, I was beside myself about it.

be full of yourself

▪

He was too full of himself to care about anyone else.

▪

She's a good-looking woman, but too full of herself for my liking.

▪

Tim is just so full of himself.

▪

Modern-day sportswriting is full of itself.

▪

They think Vassar students are full of themselves, elite, and excessively liberal.

be in command of yourself

▪

Kathleen is a confident leader and in total command of herself.

be yourself

▪

And the sacrificial victim is yourself.

▪

He was counting on her redshirting even more than Karen was herself.

▪

Henry Ford's assertion that history was bunk was itself bunk: theology seemed to me a much better candidate.

▪

It seems to me questionable that Ruether is herself theistic.

▪

The language needed to describe unity is itself divisive, each word an island proclaiming its difference from every other.

▪

They can be themselves, be, relate, create in their own way.

▪

They made us able to come with our own identity and our own image, to try to be ourselves.

bear yourself

▪

Throughout the trial, she bore herself with great dignity.

▪

She was very pale, but bore herself with rigid composure.

beat yourself up

better yourself

▪

A lot of people are trying to better themselves.

▪

And she feels better herself - after two weeks, her headaches and tiredness have gone.

▪

He doesn't criticize the vice-president marketing's expert judgement nor pretend he could do better himself.

▪

I couldn't have done better myself.

▪

I teach them to better themselves.

▪

It is a way in which diversity and the desire to better oneself can be accommodated.

▪

She would do anything to better herself.

▪

Wilson speeches often praise the gumption of illegal immigrants who take risks and endure hardships to better themselves and their families.

brush yourself down

▪

Give me a couple of minutes, will you? Brush yourself down while you're waiting.

bury yourself in your work/studies etc

busy yourself with sth

▪

I busied myself with answering letters.

▪

Could it be that man over there busying himself with the nutcracker display?

▪

Franca naturally busied herself with genuine tasks, of which there were always plenty.

▪

I busied myself with the cooking until I was interrupted by an exquisite baritone.

▪

It was ajar and he could see the young woman busying herself with chores before reopening the shop for the afternoon trade.

▪

Morning comes, and Blue starts busying himself with another disguise.

▪

She busies herself with recruiting phone calls.

▪

Two days before the opening Soo stayed in the shop and busied herself with white paint and a large board.

▪

While Muhammed Shah and his circle busied themselves with amusement, Safdarjung consolidated his position.

call yourself sth

▪

He calls himself a Christian, but he's not very nice to strangers.

can look after yourself

▪

But now she can look after herself.

▪

It is generally assumed that at postgraduate level and above users can look after themselves.

cannot/could not bring yourself to do sth

▪

But I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

▪

He had died somewhere on the way to his next case, and Quinn could not bring himself to feel sorry.

▪

I debated with myself but in the end, I could not bring myself to pack up and leave.

▪

Rain could not bring herself to put this to the test.

▪

She could not bring herself to fall down the house stairs.

▪

The New-York Historical Society couldn't bring itself to do that.

▪

The teakettle made a brisk whistling sound, but John Wade could not bring himself to move.

▪

This little subterfuge the guard put into motion somehow he could not bring himself to do it.

catch yourself doing sth

▪

I caught myself watching everybody else instead of paying attention to the lecture.

chuck yourself off sth

collect yourself/collect your thoughts

come out of yourself

▪

He comes out of himself for a time and learns about love.

comport yourself

▪

Leo comported himself very professionally.

▪

A paradigm tells us what things are like, how the world is, and how we should comport ourselves in it.

▪

He comported himself so stiffly during cocktails that Jim Maier suspected the bishop might be feeling intimidated.

▪

Many animals show inherited differences in how they comport themselves.

▪

This is not to say that our soldiers, sailors and airmen have not comported themselves bravely when asked to do so.

compose yourself

▪

He waited a moment outside the door so that Philip would have time to compose himself.

▪

She took several deep breaths to compose herself before going downstairs.

▪

He paused for a while to compose himself then staggered down to the porter's lodge.

▪

Ralph would compose himself, at the ready.

▪

She lit a cigarette ... composed herself.

▪

She saw Anna, and was visibly struggling to compose herself as she came to the door.

▪

She waits outside the room, head down, composing herself while the players find seats inside.

▪

The fisherman brayed laughter, pleased with his joke, and delighted to see the boy had composed himself.

▪

There she wept and fought to compose herself before returning to the parlor with a small, pinched smile.

concern yourself with/about sth

▪

Our country's leaders must concern themselves with environmental protection.

▪

Back in the days when he had yet concerned himself with the world.

▪

Burun Khan may have told you that we know of such machines, but do not concern ourselves with them.

▪

By contrast, total quality and continuous improvement concern themselves with improving performance in smaller chunks.

▪

For several weeks I did not concern myself with any thought of the future.

▪

In its pure form, a no-fault system, as its name suggests, does not concern itself with blame.

▪

The committee will concern itself with matters relating to administration, marketing, finance, playing, development, and public relations.

▪

The physical anthropologists concern themselves with the history and distribution of the varieties of mankind considered as species and sub-species.

▪

What has been at stake that we concerned ourselves with this?

conduct yourself

▪

By the end of the course, you should be able to conduct yourself with confidence in any meeting.

▪

Public figures have a duty to conduct themselves responsibly, even in their private lives.

▪

Seidman has conducted himself with extraordinary grace and ability.

▪

But he conducts himself in all situations with a dignity not one whit lessened by his shortness.

▪

He conducted himself impeccably, he was open and honest and had to put up with a lot from the press and media.

▪

He had an air about him that was highly professional and he conducted himself in a really first-class manner.

▪

I always try to conduct myself reasonably in public.

▪

I believed I had conducted myself well.

▪

Imagine fans and athletes honoring their sport by conducting themselves with class.

▪

That is how you decide the manner you are going to conduct yourself.

▪

These young men, taciturn, hard-working, serious, did not conduct themselves in what Mr Bullins considered the correct manner.

congratulate yourself (on sth)

▪

But the rivalry was friendly enough for all teams to congratulate each other on their performances.

▪

I do not say this in order to congratulate myself or to put my actions in a better light.

▪

On the dais all the boys were congratulating themselves.

▪

One by one they congratulated themselves.

▪

San Francisco is not in a position to congratulate itself on the success of its public schools.

▪

So both teams can congratulate themselves at doing so much better.

▪

The Government are in an extraordinarily poor position to congratulate themselves on an annusmirabilis.

▪

The Senior Management team were evidently congratulating themselves on having recruited such an able young lady.

content yourself with (doing) sth

▪

But Borssele has not simply contented herself with the odd leak.

▪

He said not a word to her, but contented himself with sending a stern reprimand to Aeolus.

▪

If Sister doesn't get a move on, they could always content themselves with the shortest children's story ever told.

▪

Ishmael is the only Person aboard the Pequod who never contents himself with seeing only one meaning for anything.

▪

Jones, shoulders hunched against the numbing cold, contented himself with a quiet display.

▪

The intrepid manager had to content himself with numbering his reserve teams.

▪

When the Suns came to watch in Game 1, he contented himself with 28 points and six rebounds.

▪

You must content yourself with maintaining your present level and role in the organization for the duration or leave!

contradict yourself

▪

During questioning, Robinson contradicted himself several times.

▪

As far as restarting the musical life in Vienna was concerned, we had the problem that the occupying forces often contradicted each other.

▪

Could you try to contradict yourself a little less?

▪

I can tell if some one contradicts themselves 39.

▪

It imputes to Proust's text the ability to contradict itself without intervention.

▪

Not, does it matter if the writer contradicts himself; but, does it matter what colour they are anyway?

▪

To Greg she didn't seem to be making much sense - saying whatever came first into her head and contradicting herself.

▪

Where they contradicted each other in inessential points there might be room for debate and uncertainty.

▪

You couldn't help but contradict yourself from time to time.

cover yourself (against sth)

▪

Dealers will no longer need to buy to cover themselves, removing one factor that has supported prices.

▪

He covered himself with a blanket that suddenly seemed to move on its own-an army of insects began crawling over his skin.

▪

He covers himself in rose-water all the time so that the place smells like a funeral parlour.

▪

He tumbled to the ground, writhed around on the dirt and covered himself with dust.

▪

I slid out of bed and covered myself with a huge paisley shawl.

▪

In a sense it was inevitable that Kelly should cover himself in glory.

▪

My landlady had stopped screaming by now because she'd managed to cover herself up.

▪

She told him that he would cover himself with ridicule by bringing the boy back.

cross yourself

▪

Father Tim crossed himself, joyfully Harry Nelson, however, was devastated.

▪

Greatly relieved, he muttered under his breath and crossed himself several times.

▪

He crossed himself, sat in the bow and ordered the men to row in.

▪

He glared, and crossed himself.

▪

Remembering, the rector crossed himself.

▪

The novelist and his wife cross themselves again and turn back into the night.

▪

The soldier leaped away, crossing himself and gibbering; some ancient prayer, perhaps, or a magic sign.

▪

Then take out thin, twiggy wood and branches that cross each other - you're aiming for a goblet shape.

deceive yourself

▪

Many parents deceive themselves about their children's behavior.

▪

He could almost deceive himself that she was confiding in him.

▪

I loved her, but I never deceived myself.

▪

If a man dissemble, deceive , he deceives himself, and goes out of acquaintance with his own being.

▪

It was no use deceiving herself any longer.

▪

Not for a moment had she been able to deceive herself that she was anything but bad, truly bad.

▪

She deceives herself more than she deceives anyone else.

▪

Was she not indeed, not only trapping herself, but deceiving herself, being, to herself, a traitor?

deny yourself (sth)

▪

A psychoanalyst would perhaps say that we learn to deny ourselves this satisfaction in favour of more sublimated pleasures.

▪

He was the first to deny himself comfort and sleep.

▪

Isabel had told her, unable to deny herself the relief of letting the truth out at last.

▪

Low-performing organizations deny themselves this counsel.

▪

Stop denying yourself food, stop eating carrots when what you really want is carrot cake.

▪

The left-armer denied himself a sixth by wasting a cowardly bouncer on Malcolm.

▪

They were not used to denying themselves much; they were not used to journeys on foot.

▪

To leave self behind does not just mean denying oneself.

despite yourself

▪

Jessie realized that, despite herself she cared about Edward.

▪

Buxton, perhaps despite himself, grew anxious not to alienate Tory support, even if that meant silencing more liberal voices.

▪

Frome was being catapulted, despite itself, perhaps, into the world of the new century about to dawn.

▪

Impressed despite herself, Tabitha watched him closely.

▪

She heard the sharp intake of his breath and desire flared out of control so that, despite herself, she responded.

▪

Studied her lips, despite myself.

▪

The mood was contagious, and despite myself I started grinning mindlessly.

▪

Violet, trapped or captured, was despite herself enthralled by it all.

detach yourself from sb/sth

▪

In order to do her job during the war, she detached herself from her feelings.

▪

Alex detached himself from the crowd and came towards them.

▪

If you wished to detach yourself from the soul of Salomon Brothers, London was the only place to go.

▪

It detached itself from the thicket and reached rose-thorn fingers into the hard earth.

▪

My muscles went limp; my skin melted into a buttery ooze; my head detached itself from my body.

▪

One of the undulating shapes detached itself from the wall and advanced towards the shining executioner as though blind to its danger.

▪

When thoroughly replenished it would detach itself from the socket and renew its adventures across the floor!

▪

Wynne-Jones detached himself from the supporting arm and came over to Tallis.

dig a hole for yourself

▪

The mayor dug himself into a hole when he promised 3000 new jobs.

discipline yourself (to do sth)

▪

Are we prepared to discipline ourselves to restrictions and regulations that we feel we ought to impose for our own good?

▪

Can we discipline ourselves more in meetings?

▪

Every month discipline yourself to go through the file and identify at least ten external contacts to phone.

▪

Furthermore, it had no effective way to discipline itself on expenditures.

▪

He must discipline himself to rigorously avoid any form of activity, be this mental or physical.

▪

It shows why philosophy may penetrate so many disciplines and yet remain a distinct discipline itself.

▪

Most of us were brought up to accept discipline , and to discipline ourselves.

▪

The combined discipline itself becomes a new container.

disentangle yourself (from sb/sth)

▪

The President was eager to disentangle himself from the scandal.

▪

And then he disentangled himself from the last uniformed peer and reached Hardin.

▪

Blearily, I disentangled myself from Richard and grabbed the phone, checking the clock.

▪

Bobbie, still looking dazed, began to disentangle herself from the foliage.

▪

Jean Alesi is said to be trying to disentangle himself from his 1993 Ferrari contract in order to make himself available to Williams.

▪

Night brightened sharply, as if the moon had just disentangled itself from cloud.

▪

One arm disentangled itself from the covers, her fingers curling indolently into the fine cotton of the quilt.

▪

The first thing the three must do is disentangle themselves from the past.

disport yourself

distance yourself (from sth)

▪

But she could not distance herself from her friend's tragedy.

▪

Don't try distancing yourself from me by calling me Mr Calder.

▪

For that reason, abstract art has been anxious to distance itself from decoration.

▪

He also chose to distance himself geographically.

▪

He no longer confides in he, as he did in the letter at the beginning, but distances himself from her.

▪

It is another for the Prime Minister to distance herself from the policies of the government of which she is head.

▪

Or should it be able, despite being owned by the State, to distance itself somewhat from political authority?

▪

They did so, and he began progressively to distance himself from his mentor.

distinguish yourself

▪

After joining the newspaper, she quickly distinguished herself with a series of hard-hitting exposés.

▪

Bradley has distinguished himself as the top scorer on the team.

▪

Eastwood distinguished himself as an actor before becoming a director.

▪

During the battle five Troll Slayers distinguished themselves by attacking and destroying three Trolls which were perilously close to crushing Duregar himself.

▪

He distinguished himself as third-string quarterback for the football team.

▪

He was clever, but disinclined to distinguish himself in study, athletic but lazy, honest but argumentative.

▪

Look, we were just kids, who like all kids want to distinguish ourselves from our parents.

▪

Perhaps Hincmar's silence here was tactful, since Charles the Bald's sons had not distinguished themselves in the traditional roles.

▪

She has been unable to effectively distinguish herself from other objects on a sensorimotor level.

▪

The Conservatives under John Major tried to distinguish themselves from their Thatcherite past by stressing a commitment to quality public services.

▪

Tim distinguished himself for eleven years in Miami, including the history-making 1972 undefeated season that climaxed in the 1973 Super Bowl.

divest yourself of sth

▪

Pinkerton's is divesting itself of $120 million in unprofitable business.

▪

And he could return to Bass, which wants to divest itself of yet more pubs.

▪

Courtaulds deputy chief executive Gordon Campbell said Courtaulds made the sale as part of its program to divest itself of noncore businesses.

▪

Especially, your Assassin must divest herself of every tiny hidden trick.

▪

Nor can a country divest itself of the karmic consequences of its own actions.

divest yourself of sth

▪

And he could return to Bass, which wants to divest itself of yet more pubs.

▪

Courtaulds deputy chief executive Gordon Campbell said Courtaulds made the sale as part of its program to divest itself of noncore businesses.

▪

Especially, your Assassin must divest herself of every tiny hidden trick.

▪

Nor can a country divest itself of the karmic consequences of its own actions.

do all right (for yourself/herself etc)

▪

Anyway, I did all right.

▪

He did all right in that Navy movie, whatever it was.

▪

Wow, so you guys must do all right then, him?

do yourself a mischief

▪

My objection to his high heels was that he would do himself a mischief if he had to bale out!

do yourself justice

▪

I am sure he will do himself justice .

▪

If Rebecca is to do herself justice , she needs to define her terms.

do yourself up

don't trouble yourself

drag yourself to/into/out of etc sth

▪

I remember when I heard the rounds coming in, I dragged myself out of the hooch.

draw yourself up (to your full height)

drink yourself silly/into a stupor/to death etc

drink/laugh/scare etc yourself silly

▪

Well, I laughed myself silly .

efface yourself

excel yourself

▪

But he excelled himself last week.

▪

He was a chaser of the highest class, and had not other horses of unproven stamina excelled themselves in the National?

▪

In a playing career that ended the month Graeme Souness arrived at Rangers, Johnstone had excelled himself as a rumbustious centre-forward.

▪

It gives us the confidence to cope with other apparently insurmountable problems, knowing that we have excelled ourselves before. 3.

▪

Last week, Helen excelled herself - a black matt waterproof, lined, with a turn-back collar of fake ocelot!

▪

Miss Lodsworth, who organized the flower rota, had excelled herself.

▪

Sorrel excelled herself with the meal, although her father never mentioned it.

▪

Yuletide in Walford is traditionally a combat zone with crackers, but the soap excelled itself this year.

excuse yourself

▪

Richard excused himself and went to his room.

▪

Constance detected a change in the atmosphere as Giancarlo excused himself and walked down the steps to greet his last guest.

▪

He has excused himself from a dinner meeting to return her call.

▪

I excuse myself for this failure of perception, for I think he was concealing it even from himself.

▪

I excused myself from Mr Cardinal and moved towards the doors.

▪

On the ground, when they had left the parked plane, Myeloski excused himself and went to the men's room.

▪

Once, my eyes start to fill with tears and I excuse myself and go to find the bathroom.

▪

She was sitting at the mirror in her room, having excused herself from her cousins' chatter minutes before.

▪

They heard Paul excuse himself to go into the house.

exert yourself

▪

It's important not to exert yourself - it'll take a few weeks to recover.

▪

A nation in its rowdy, energetic and inspiring youth wants freedom and is willing to exert itself to win it.

▪

All the surgeons present were exerting themselves to their utmost; the few nurses all busy.

▪

As soon as we stop exerting ourselves the blood pressure returns to normal again.

▪

Because shareholders can not tell how hard managers are exerting themselves on their behalf, managers have an incentive to shirk.

▪

Does a team that has to exert itself to get to 38-44 deserve a place at the big table?

▪

He kept close behind, not exerting himself.

▪

Red tell-tales blinked as he exerted himself.

▪

This is the best measure of fitness, since it expresses the greatest rate at which an individual can exert himself.

explain yourself

▪

John doesn't make excuses or explain himself to anybody.

▪

No, that's not what I meant. I guess I didn't explain myself very well.

▪

Censure gives Mr Wahid three months to explain himself.

▪

He waited for Ballater to explain himself or to state the reason for his visit.

▪

I had explained myself, as I always did, but I could scarcely explain myself away.

▪

I knew I could explain myself.

▪

I regard this as part of my life, a duty to explain myself.

▪

She tried to speak, to call for help, to explain herself, to scream, but no words would come.

▪

When, eventually, he was admitted to the presence of the Chairman he would have perhaps fifteen minutes to explain himself.

▪

Yet now, commanded to appear before elected officials, he had to explain himself, give an accounting of his views.

expose yourself

▪

By connecting to the Internet, a local network organization may be exposing itself to the entire population on the Internet.

▪

He was arrested five other times from 1991-93 on charges such as exposing himself to a female student and urinating in public.

▪

I hated to expose myself, to emerge, to stick out.

▪

Marie had never understood how women could bare their souls with such ease, exposing themselves so shamelessly to one another.

▪

The builder, by breaking his commitments, no doubt exposed himself to an action by his customer for breach of contract.

▪

There were cases of teachers following girls home, and one who exposed himself.

▪

Whereas they expose themselves by coming to power, he can remain concealed indefinitely.

▪

Women expose themselves through their image far more than men do.

fall over yourself to do sth

▪

Freshers' fair is the traditional showground where societies fall over themselves to attract some of the 5000 new students.

▪

He was good box office and managements fell over themselves to get his name on their marquees.

▪

Suddenly, the Kremlin is falling over itself to get close to Uncle Sam.

▪

The owners are constantly carping about runaway salaries, then fall over themselves to jump the gun and up the ante.

▪

The receptionist had obviously recognised him too, had practically fallen over herself to bat her long dark eyelashes at him.

▪

The sight of so many senior politicians falling over themselves to kiss his hand was reminiscent of Tammany Hall at its worst.

▪

Those first days of their honeymoon in New York, the music publishers had fallen over themselves to entertain the couple.

▪

We almost fell over ourselves to oblige.

familiarize yourself/sb with sth

▪

Besides, the way our winter has been going, it seemed like the year to familiarize myself with snowshoes.

▪

Jules, you can accompany Alice and familiarize yourself with London.

▪

Taylor familiarized himself with existing designs, borrowing features from several.

▪

These programs familiarize trainees with the production line, company policies and procedures, and the requirements of the job.

▪

To familiarize pupils with the creation and use of a database. 3.

▪

To familiarize pupils with the skills of planning and organizing information. 2.

▪

To familiarize pupils with the use of outside databases e.g. Prestel. 4.

▪

Worcester was a good quiet place to begin, he said, to familiarize myself with the feel of the stage.

fancy yourself

▪

And fancies himself as a fisherman.

▪

He fancied himself as a strategist.

▪

He fancied himself as something of an impresario, and had some experience negotiating contracts with Hollywood studios.

▪

He fancied himself in love with me, the silly boy, but that was absurd.

▪

I fancy myself a famous writer.

▪

Marx was not a humanist, though he fancied himself to be.

▪

Now he fancies himself as a great military strategist.

▪

Read in studio Now, have you ever fancied yourself as a bit of a cowboy?

fancy yourself (as) sth

▪

And fancies himself as a fisherman.

▪

Any chick who fancies herself as a feminist ought to go and see Martha McGilchrist.

▪

He fancied himself as a strategist.

▪

He fancied himself as something of an impresario, and had some experience negotiating contracts with Hollywood studios.

▪

He fancied himself in love with me, the silly boy, but that was absurd.

▪

I fancy myself a famous writer.

▪

Krause has always fancied himself a keen talent scout first.

▪

Now he fancies himself as a great military strategist.

fend for yourself

▪

Dad always wanted me to be able to fend for myself from a very early age.

▪

The children were left to fend for themselves on the streets.

▪

The mother died before the cubs were old enough to fend for themselves.

▪

Young birds are left to fend for themselves soon after they hatch.

▪

Children are left to fend for themselves and often get in trouble in the process.

▪

Now it must fend for itself, without parental care.

▪

Small amounts of food must be left for the birds until they learn to fend for themselves.

▪

So Snow White must fend for herself when she is abandoned by the hunter in the forest.

▪

The captain radioed for assistance, but the convoy sped away, leaving the Vanzetti to fend for herself.

▪

Thereafter they fend for themselves and she is quickly into preparation for her next litter.

▪

We were left to fend for ourselves.

▪

Young Basque men emigrated because no patrimony could by custom be divided, leaving younger sons to fend for themselves.

fill (yourself) up

▪

But at the rear, in his camels-hair coat, filling up a comer with his huge body, he was standing.

▪

Fast cars drink petrol, and if you don't fill up often, your roses will become stranded with empty tanks.

▪

From where Nathan was sitting, in a chapel adjacent to the altar, he could hear the cathedral filling up.

▪

He can fill up the lane, earn his minutes and his keep just by being big.

▪

The doc says her lungs are all filled up with water.

▪

The space between them was filling up with unasked and unanswered questions.

▪

To attract crowds large enough to fill up the ornate space, big spectacles were de rigueur.

▪

Well, if you stop to fill up at a motorway service station your dreams could come true.

fill yourself (up)/fill your face

find it in your heart/yourself to do sth

▪

For this alone, I may find it in my heart to forgive her.

▪

He hoped the moon could find it in its heart to overlook his sins as it climbed the heavens.

▪

To his grief, Donny's widow would not find it in her heart to speak to him again.

find yourself

▪

She went to India to find herself.

▪

And the other morning I found myself feeling guilty about something I'd said to some one about twenty years ago.

▪

But one thing leads to another, and Sister Helen finds herself challenged to put her beliefs on the line.

▪

Conclusion Most of the children who read this book find themselves quite liking Gowie Corby.

▪

He has gone back through that door to find himself in 1963.

▪

I found myself just doing things without even thinking about them - my fingers seemed to work away on their own.

▪

It goes without saying that almost invariably the instances of animal behaviour that we find ourselves discussing involve adult creatures.

▪

Organizations that make them often find themselves settling happily into the healthy habit of regular truth-telling.

▪

Practically put, corn farmers would find themselves with unwanted inventories of output.

flatten yourself against sth

▪

I flattened myself against the wall.

▪

As the train began slowing down for North Chittendon, I flattened myself against the window.

▪

Brennan and Douglas flattened themselves against the front of the trench as it went over.

▪

I flattened myself against the wall.

▪

Quickly they moved out of sight, flattening themselves against the corridor walls to either side of the short passage.

▪

She'd flattened herself against the outside wall like some one in a spy movie.

▪

She flattened herself against the end terrace wall and looked back.

flatter yourself

▪

"I think you like me more than you'll admit." "Don't flatter yourself."

▪

He flattered himself that he would discover a twin soul in the famous Rifleman.

▪

I don't flatter myself that she was eager to take my name.

▪

Indeed Karelius, in opera cloak and one of Aranyos' dandyish suits, flattered himself he looked as distinguished as any.

▪

She had got bored by herself - and, if I flatter myself, there was a tinge of concern for me.

▪

Should we flatter ourselves that our descendants will find our concerns of the utmost importance?

▪

So I don't flatter myself that some one who gets my beliefs will automatically get true ones.

▪

The most that I can claim or flatter myself with, is to be of the middle rank....

fling yourself at sb

▪

And I do not give you permission to fling yourself at her feet, grab her hands and weep into her palms.

▪

As I flung myself at it, pounding footsteps were behind me.

▪

He flung himself at her, springing the top button of his jeans and jerking them down as he did so.

▪

McCoist flung himself at the ball and beat Lukic with a wonderful diving header.

▪

She flung herself at the gunman, who was then felled by police fire.

▪

Tabitha flung herself at the hard bunk with an angry sigh.

▪

They flung themselves at sailors in a bid for immortality.

fling yourself into sth

▪

Mas flung himself into the economic and political life of America.

▪

As they passed Jess, flinging themselves into the Battle, she saw Garty Jenks among them.

▪

Did I fling myself into your arms?

▪

He flung himself into a chair without waiting to be asked.

▪

I flung myself into his chair, the big recliner.

▪

I wanted to fling myself into her arms and cry and let her comfort me, but I did not.

▪

Saying a prayer, she flung herself into her captors' bonfire.

▪

She fought back the sudden urge to run to him, to fling herself into his arms and beg his forgiveness.

▪

Sonia and Helen flung themselves into my arms, to Joe's great astonishment.

fool yourself

▪

Although a Pep Squad can sometimes fool the world, it can rarely fool itself.

▪

First a drive, he thought, headed anywhere, fooling himself into thinking he might simply keep going.

▪

However, the probabilities are that you are fooling yourself.

▪

It was as though he had been fooling himself all along.

▪

Lindsey knew she had been fooling herself in thinking she could remain indifferent.

▪

The stories of Blake and the various defectors show how easily the intelligence fraternity fools itself.

▪

This was my way of fooling myself, perhaps.

▪

We fool ourselves by thinking we can go on automatic pilot, that we can survive by going through the motions.

forget yourself

▪

Veronica was worried that she might forget herself and confess her true feelings.

▪

When I was growing up, I was told to forget myself and pay attention to others.

▪

As if he had forgotten himself, Wasswa hurriedly got up and draped a towel around the President's shoulders.

▪

But this, to some extent, was to forget himself.

▪

He forgets himself in the feeding.

▪

He could get caught up in the story, so to speak, and little by little begin to forget himself.

▪

His aim, in fact, as he freely admitted, was to forget himself in his work.

▪

I gave a good class: there is nothing like teaching well for making one forget oneself and one's petty troubles.

▪

Infuriated, she forgot herself sufficiently to reach out and prod his knee.

▪

You have taught me to forget myself by demeaning yourself to be free to a poor servant.

fulfil yourself

▪

I am still ambitious - to fulfil myself rather than become a managing director.

▪

Just turned 21, Jeanne had sacrificed any hope of fulfilling herself as an artist to Modigliani.

▪

Last year, it seemed he had matured enough to fulfil himself but a cruel succession of injuries denied him.

▪

Maslow showed that, by fulfilling themselves, men could reach contentment and happiness.

gather yourself/your strength/your thoughts

get above yourself

▪

Ever since he'd given her that power of attorney she'd been getting above herself.

▪

I was thought to be getting above myself because I refused to sight read a scene.

▪

What was Cambridge, after all, but a small town which had got above itself?

get/take a grip on yourself

▪

Damn you, get a grip on yourself.

▪

He must take a grip on himself.

▪

I got a grip on myself and made it back to my office.

▪

I had to get a grip on myself and put this whole wretched business behind me.

▪

I must get a grip on myself, she told herself firmly.

▪

She took a grip on herself, physically pushed back the dark, claustrophobic horror at the point of drowning.

give a good/poor account of yourself

▪

Cooper gave a good account of himself in the fight.

▪

Sussex's Wood gave a good account of herself and should have claimed the second set.

▪

Thirteen-year-old Patsy, who could always give a good account of herself, looked upset.

▪

Though it gave a good account of itself, Dave gently persuaded the fish close enough to be lifted aboard the boat.

give yourself over to sth

▪

You have to give yourself over to football if you want to be good at it.

▪

Drifting, feeling the drug, he closed his eyes and gave himself over to the mirrors in his head.

▪

He prepared to give himself over to whatever fate Lucifer had in store for him.

▪

I gave myself over to her ministrations.

▪

I envisioned her smile, and the long sigh as we gave ourselves over to an honest conversation.

▪

She wasn't good at being silly, but she gave herself over to the moment.

▪

The life of the anchoress was hard but she did not necessarily give herself over to excessive penance.

▪

Why not give herself over to the silliness of it, instead of feeling distress?

give yourself/sb up

▪

But then, why give them up so abruptly?

▪

But we would not give it up without a desperate struggle.

▪

He is not going to give that up.

▪

I had to give the ball up, and then I had work my butt off to get it back.

▪

I kept starting new regimes, then finding I couldn't give them up.

▪

In return for our consent, he swore he would give it up the day after he won the election.

▪

That's why I want to give it up for adoption.

go fuck yourself/himself/themselves etc

gorge yourself (on sth)

▪

All fish love eating tubifex and will gorge themselves silly on the worm.

▪

He knew he would gorge himself on curry and dal and then want to sleep.

▪

In the wild they are opportunist feeders and at times of plenty they gorge themselves and then may fast for several weeks.

▪

Just because we appear to be gorging ourselves on war coverage doesn't mean to say that we swallow it whole.

▪

Once there they gorge themselves until they are so bloated they can hardly take off.

▪

The symbolism was extended to the gorge itself Blondin had literally caught it in his net.

haul yourself up/out of etc sth

▪

Annie hauls herself out of her chair, nets a shiner from the tank, and throws it out the screen door.

▪

Next day I hauled myself out of bed, took breakfast and got into the truck about a quarter to six.

have (got) sth/sb (all) to yourself

▪

Helen used to have the house to herself.

▪

I have said to myself that that is wrong.

▪

I must have been jealous of her life away from me, and wished to have her entirely to myself.

▪

Most of the people in the boardinghouse would go home, and he and I would have the house to ourselves.

▪

Mummy stopped the car at once, even though the pizza parlour was so crowded that they couldn't have a table to themselves.

▪

Of course, the Little Sprouts and the Plumpsters could have kept to themselves.

▪

She regrets she is so much in the way of the young people, who really should have some time to themselves.

▪

They could; and should have won this match and the players have to look to themselves.

have a lot to say for yourself

help yourself (to sth)

▪

Go ahead and help yourselves to a drink.

▪

She helped herself to some money she found lying around.

▪

And there are things people can do now to help themselves, new things, and newer things.

▪

Children may be referred by teachers or parents or may even ask for help themselves.

▪

Group members may well help each other by pointing out to another where and what a problem might be.

▪

I just couldn't help myself.

▪

I mean, you couldn't help yourselves.

▪

If you can not help yourself ....

▪

Lily helped herself to the two smallest slices and a generous portion of the crispy brown bubble and squeak.

▪

Weary and wet, sustained by blessed tea, we helped each other with the tents.

hire yourself out

▪

Her brother earned his living by hiring himself out to whoever needed his services on the island.

▪

We called technical support and reached a Florida office, a tech-support company that hires itself out to Compaq.

▪

We thought about hiring ourselves out as sort of bespectacled human twigs for water-divining purposes.

hug yourself with joy/delight etc

humble yourself

▪

Not a lot of former 20-game winners would humble themselves that way.

▪

With Angel gone there was no need to humble herself and inquire if he had at last returned to work.

▪

Yet the school offered him nothing and lie had to humble himself to plead with me.

hurl yourself at/against etc sb/sth

▪

And yet people still hurl themselves at this fence.

▪

For an instant, Jimmy wondered whether he should hurl himself at the plate-glass windows.

▪

I hurl myself at the soldier.

▪

Shopkeeper Nasser Ali, 25, hurled himself at Conroy, who emptied his magazine of all six shots.

▪

The control room door slammed shut behind Atrimonides as he ran on to the gallery and hurled himself at Christine.

▪

The warriors hurled themselves at the heads or horns of their animals to make them lie down.

▪

The wind was gusting through the branches of the old oak tree outside and hurling itself against his window.

immerse yourself in sth

▪

Jarrod completely immersed himself in his work.

▪

Blanche in turn was happy to immerse herself in country life for a few days and play endless games with her two nephews.

▪

For months, Atkinson immersed himself in a numbing void.

▪

In 1919 he went to Zurich, where he studied and worked in psychological clinics, immersing himself in psychological experimentation.

▪

The student needs to immerse himself in the performance of a kata in order to release his emotions.

▪

They did not have time to immerse themselves in technical detail.

▪

We finished our drinks and Siegfried immersed himself in the Veterinary Record as savoury smells began to issue from the kitchen.

▪

When she left I quickly immersed myself in the safer, less emotional facts and figures of a real estate deal.

in spite of yourself

▪

The picture made her laugh in spite of herself.

▪

Almost in spite of himself, he did well at Latin.

▪

Angie responds in spite of herself when Cain flirts with her.

▪

I feel a stab of envy in spite of myself.

▪

I hurried home, my heart pounding and my hands trembling in spite of myself-I could not believe it.

▪

I went along to my session, and I was shaking in spite of myself.

inflict yourself/sb on sb

▪

Alcohol and tobacco inflict great harm on individual health and have a high social cost.

▪

And he was carrying no thunder-and-fire stick to inflict pain on them.

▪

From early childhood they are schooled not to inflict themselves on others.

▪

However, it is possible for other war engines and large monsters to inflict damage on them.

▪

No one wants to inflict this pressure on children.

▪

The second group comprises patients who inflict serious injuries on themselves with considerable suicidal intent.

▪

You are just lying there with these people washing, dressing and at the same time inflicting pain on you.

ingratiate yourself (with sb)

▪

Isn't it sickening how Daniela tries to ingratiate herself with Harriet?

▪

From each and every canvas I saw that the model surveyed the viewer, resisting centuries of admonition to ingratiate herself.

▪

He would get to know the cook and ingratiate himself by being agreeable and doing her favours.

▪

I had to lure her back, bring her presents, ingratiate myself with everyone in the family.

▪

I spend most of my life trying to ingratiate myself into a sick society rather than trying to smash that society.

▪

In order to ingratiate himself with the populace, he rebuilt the Temple of Jerusalem on a hitherto unprecedented scale.

▪

Native merchants were eager to ingratiate themselves with West-ern traders.

▪

Sharaf Rashidov, the former party boss, would lie about the cotton crop year after year to ingratiate himself with Moscow.

▪

The free Negro militia ingratiated themselves with the white community by offering to assist in military operations against the slaves.

install yourself in/at etc

▪

Geoffrey, Joe and I installed ourselves in the aft cabin.

▪

The Madeirans were worried, in particular, in case a post-revolutionary Communist dictatorship should install itself in Lisbon.

▪

Tom suggested they go straight to his house, but Mr Greenleaf wanted to install himself in a hotel first.

interest yourself in sth

▪

Franca could not answer these questions or interest herself in such formulations.

▪

He's been interesting himself in the new C.O., Brenda Pridmore.

▪

He interested himself in fiscal, banking, and trade policy.

▪

I sneaked back, into the darkness and found Doris and tried to interest myself in the dishes for a while.

▪

In Leeds meanwhile he interested himself in educational ventures and became widely known for public service.

▪

In recent years Winters has interested himself in making objects of glass and ceramics.

▪

Not surprisingly, the state has also interested itself in providing additional pension coverage.

involve yourself

▪

A most significant departure for some one so senior to involve himself personally.

▪

Because even if Antoinette didn't exist Rohan wouldn't involve himself with me - at least not seriously.

▪

For why should anyone involve themselves with a stranger when the one thing that everybody had in plenty was trouble?

▪

I chose to involve myself in matters best left alone.

▪

It has involved itself energetically in such issues as pub opening hours and the additives and adjuncts used in the brewing process.

▪

She didn't let the undertakers involve themselves in this intimate business.

▪

What these writers seem to mean is that Artemis did not involve Herself with men.

keep sth to yourself

▪

Branson knew who the killer was, but had kept it to himself for twenty years.

▪

Don't tell Sam -- he's incapable of keeping anything to himself.

▪

I've got cancer, but I would appreciate if you would keep this to yourself.

▪

After all, what right have they to keep it to themselves?

▪

But she kept them to herself.

▪

Never a woman to keep her thoughts to herself, she told him how comfortable she felt in his company.

▪

Share information - don't keep everything to yourself; there is no advantage to this. 5.

▪

She kept the pregnancy to herself - or rather kept it from herself, and from everyone else, for too long.

▪

She wouldn't say even then but I plagued her a bit till she couldn't keep it to herself any longer.

▪

So don't keep it all to yourself!

▪

We went out and tied bricks to him and put him down and we kept it to ourselves.

keep to yourself

▪

His frustration he tried to keep to himself but it hovered about him until it shaded and finally swallowed him.

▪

I watched her drive out on to the highway, thinking many things which are better kept to myself.

▪

If they kept to themselves, the whole northern end of the area might as well be written off.

▪

Mandeville kept to himself, fretting about Southgate and when the additional soldiers would arrive.

▪

Of course, the Little Sprouts and the Plumpsters could have kept to themselves.

▪

She keeps to her room, keeps to herself.

▪

The sympathy she showed Karen; the relief she kept to herself.

▪

Whatever problems he had faced in their life together he had kept to himself.

kick yourself

▪

I could have kicked myself for getting her name wrong.

▪

A few executives, though, kicked themselves.

▪

Blue is shocked by the fare and kicks himself mentally for not following the woman instead.

▪

Glen Day had eight birdies in a round of 64 and was kicking himself.

▪

I have to kick myself to think that it was Xmas only 3 weeks ago.

▪

It was easy to see that the boy was kicking himself.

▪

Jeeze, I could kick myself.

▪

Never slam a door in temper, you may need to come back through it in the future: kick yourself instead.

▪

She was kicking herself for forgetting the most basic Capricorn trait of allowing nothing to stand in the way of their goal.

kill yourself

▪

He killed himself by jumping under a train.

▪

She tried to kill herself when news of the scandal leaked out.

▪

You'll kill yourself if you go on drinking like that.

▪

Could you kill yourself by putting your fingers into the electric socket?

▪

Do we go on killing each other until there is none left?

▪

He suffered such terrible symptoms he tried to kill himself.

▪

Hetty has no alternative but beggary, and rather than that it would be better to kill herself.

▪

It will be a book about how my sister killed herself, about how and why I survived.

▪

Jill has killed herself during the week of his final exams.

▪

The number of students who had killed themselves and their instructors was a constant source of anxiety.

▪

We lived together happily for many years and now it has come to killing each other's babies.

knock yourself out

▪

A koala, who was the loser in a treetop fight, fell 10m and knocked himself out.

▪

He used the family umbrella as a parachute, fell on his head, and knocked himself out.

▪

His head collided with a table on the way down and he knocked himself out.

▪

I knock myself out to get him a pencil and he makes fun.

▪

I think he knocked himself out, or something.

▪

If you knock yourself out you could slip under the water and drown.

▪

You simply want something so much that you knock yourself out to get it.

▪

Your parents have knocked themselves out for you.

launch yourself forwards/up/from etc

▪

With a sari Psepha unfolded his great wings and launched himself from his tree.

let yourself go

▪

Dick took me to the party and, for once, I let myself go completely.

▪

He's quite scholarly, but he can be really funny when he lets himself go.

▪

She's really let herself go since she had the baby.

▪

I merely let myself go to impulse.

▪

If they are kind, if they care about you, they may want to know why you are letting yourself go.

▪

One thing you could say for my daughter, she never let herself go.

▪

People may be unusually observant and tell you that you are letting yourself go.

▪

Perhaps Moira and Martin had almost lost each other because they were afraid to let themselves go.

▪

She'd let herself go, last night - but she was none the worse for it, was she?

▪

That left plenty of room for those wanting to let themselves go.

▪

You can come up and let yourself go - shout about and that and muck about.

let yourself in for sth

▪

He was probably right, but I wondered what we were letting ourselves in for.

▪

I took his point and wondered what I had let myself in for.

▪

It is important that people are aware what they are letting themselves in for.

▪

Property: Don't let yourself in for trouble Choosing the right agent is essential if you want to rent your property.

▪

Thistle's early season promise has evaporated, and debutant Julian Broddle must be wondering what he's let himself in for.

▪

We must know what we are letting ourselves in for, theoretically, when we use such measures.

▪

What exactly was I letting myself in for?

▪

What have I let myself in for?

lever yourself up

lock yourself away

▪

At other times he suffers periods of deep depression when he locks himself away and will speak to no-one for weeks.

▪

He ought to lock himself away from them.

▪

If Eisen was actually in New York, she had an added reason for locking herself away.

▪

It got to the stage where she would lock herself away and not talk to me, or else have endless arguments.

▪

Morrissey, in particular, would lock himself away behind a shield of management statements and subsequent verbal minders.

look after yourself

▪

Concentrate on the truth, advised Eric Gill, and let beauty look after itself.

▪

No doubt many more boys were up to the same tricks, but convention ruled that they were better able to look after themselves.

▪

Remember, at the same time as you are looking after yourself, you are protecting them.

▪

Respecting yourself means looking after yourself.

▪

That's all for now, look after yourselves, and make sure you don't overdo things, Gwen.

▪

The pup must now look after itself.

▪

We have sheltered accommodation, with understanding professional staff, for blind men and women who are unable to look after themselves.

▪

You knew how to look after yourself, he said.

lose yourself in sth

▪

Small children have the ability to lose themselves in imaginary worlds.

▪

A generation loses itself in an inner world of feeling and self-awareness, oblivious of outside forces.

▪

A line of track ran one way to nothing and lost itself in nothing in the other direction.

▪

And though she longed to lose herself in the flames, to be consumed and reborn, she was also terribly afraid.

▪

He had never been able to lose himself in a crowd, or dash off somewhere suddenly on a whim.

▪

Like the owl, it could lose itself in the forest.

▪

Men say I am a saInt losing myself in politics.

▪

Perfecting themselves, though, there is little chance that they will lose themselves in anyone else.

lower yourself

▪

Corrigan took them and lowered himself.

▪

He slid into schooling like an athlete lowering himself into a whirlpool, feeling the heat deep in his tissue.

▪

Hindered by scolding women and jeering men, the soldiers lowered themselves into the cramped crawl spaces.

▪

I lower myself into the chair, keeping as far away as possible.

▪

I gave Becky to them and lowered myself into the water.

▪

Police were called to the shop in Southampton after a passer-by spotted Urben lowering himself through the roof into the showroom.

▪

She lowered herself to the beam, one leg down, the other forward.

▪

The hood framed her expressive face, emphasising the grimace of determination before she lowered herself into the starting blocks.

make a fool of yourself

▪

I met Sylvester Stallone one time and made a complete fool of myself.

▪

A true cat is often willing to make a fool of herself, but only on her own terms.

▪

And why should you make a fool of yourself now by trying?

▪

Athletes will seldom make fools of themselves for the press.

▪

I have made a fool of myself.

▪

One thing Congress apparently can do in a bipartisan spirit is to make a fool of itself.

▪

She had truly made a fool of herself.

▪

The mature glider pilot would never hesitate to make a fool of himself in the interests of safety.

▪

Your biggest fear is probably the fear of making a fool of yourself and this is what is making you nervous.

make a spectacle of yourself

▪

Jody made a complete spectacle of herself by getting drunk at the wedding.

▪

However, it was obvious that she was intent on making a spectacle of herself.

▪

She did not rant or rave or otherwise make a spectacle of herself.

▪

They didn't make a spectacle of themselves.

▪

You're simply making a spectacle of yourself.

▪

You and your so-called friends make spectacles of yourselves at the party, litter the garden with debris and vandalise this fountain.

make an exhibition of yourself

▪

Sam got drunk and made an exhibition of himself as usual.

▪

Even the mouse and the cynic are constantly making an exhibition of themselves.

▪

I didn't want you making an exhibition of yourself.

▪

It would be dreadful if one ran out while the children were present and she made an exhibition of herself by screaming!

▪

Somehow or other he must surely be making an exhibition of himself.

make sb/yourself sick

▪

Finally, the very thought of one more sweet and sticky mouthful would make him sick .

▪

I was too young to exercise my intellectual force to demolish prejudices that made me sick .

▪

It made him sick to go to Horatia's bed, but he hadn't shirked the task.

▪

It makes you sick , you know.

▪

It makes you so sick that you lose the baby.

▪

Shortly afterwards she made herself sick .

▪

Still, for a long time, Helen would not, which they both thought would make her sick .

▪

To be honest, it made me sick to my stomach.

make something of yourself

▪

As with all young people she had to make something of herself before she could offer anything to anyone else.

▪

He looked like a man who might be able to make something of himself if a good woman took him in hand.

▪

Most ladies maids try to make something of themselves.

▪

She began to think of it as he, and wondered if he would make something of himself later on in life.

▪

She too wanted her boys to make something of themselves.

▪

She was totally uninterested in the proposition that a man ought to make something of himself.

▪

The one with the ambition and the talent and the brains to really make something of herself.

▪

Uncle Allen had made something of himself by 1932.

make yourself at home

▪

Make yourselves at home . Would you like a cup of coffee?

▪

Cynthia, he thought, did not have much trouble making herself at home .

▪

Here, sit down and make yourself at home .

▪

Nothing like making yourself at home .

▪

Perspective 6: People make themselves at home throughout the solar system.

▪

She had to make herself at home , somehow.

▪

She pulled off her hat, she made herself at home .

▪

They float right through the glass and make themselves at home .

▪

Two weeks later a young married couple were the new tenants filling the house, making themselves at home .

make yourself heard/understood/known etc

▪

As we will soon see, the inability to make oneself understood properly was at the root of the crisis in Vicos.

▪

But only one side was making itself heard.

▪

Hardly a practicable solution when she didn't even know if she could make herself understood.

▪

He makes himself known with a tiny, metallic clink-clink-clink from within the bushes.

▪

I yelled to make myself heard above the deafening roar of the wind and the sea.

▪

To leave was to admit defeat in this peculiar ritual of making myself known.

▪

Yet lay people had almost no way of making themselves heard in Rome.

make yourself known (to sb)

▪

He makes himself known with a tiny, metallic clink-clink-clink from within the bushes.

▪

Jaq daydreamed about a subsequent year when Baal Firenze had first made himself known .

▪

My superior self was working out a way to approach and make myself known .

▪

To leave was to admit defeat in this peculiar ritual of making myself known .

▪

With that you will make yourself known .

▪

Your five minutes only start when you make yourself known .

make yourself scarce

▪

For the next few days I made myself scarce , hoping his bad mood would pass.

▪

When Gary and Clare began to argue, Reg decided to make himself scarce .

▪

You'd better make yourselves scarce before the manager gets here.

▪

For the next few days I made myself scarce , hoping that his displeasure was temporary.

▪

He generally makes himself scarce in his room with his computer.

▪

He has refused to speak to Hundley and is making himself scarce at the Delta Center to local reporters.

▪

I didn't wait to be told twice and I made myself scarce .

▪

I made myself scarce as quickly as I could.

▪

Maggie had made herself useful to her stepmother by running the house, and yet continued to make herself scarce .

▪

The Magistrate, mortified, had made himself scarce .

model yourself on sb

▪

A number had decided to model themselves on the behaviors and demeanor of a favorite boss or company hero-a very reasonable strategy.

▪

As we grow up we model ourselves on our parents, identifying with them and imitating them.

▪

Dean was another rebel, no doubt modelling himself on his two idols.

▪

For men to model themselves on Ulysses rather than Hercules.

▪

If the C of E models itself on Parliament, the Methodists model themselves on a school prize-giving.

▪

Nobody's modelled themselves on us, they've gone more the Roses and the Mondays.

▪

Plenty of singers, wisely or otherwise, have modelled themselves on the heroes and villains of great literature.

▪

Thomas Becket modelled himself on Anselm - in his exile, his inflexibility, his austerities.

mortify the flesh/yourself

▪

We may imagine an ascetic who consistently chooses the sour instead of the sweet apple, in order to mortify the flesh.

nerve yourself to do sth/for sth

▪

Finally she nerved herself to go and have a drink.

▪

Ruth clenched her hands inside her cloak, nerving herself to follow him; but it was Fand who didn't move.

not be yourself

▪

It would not be itself a thing.

not bother yourself/not bother your head

not feel yourself

▪

I just haven't been feeling myself lately.

▪

He had not felt himself a part of what governments decided.

▪

He had not felt himself bound by their rules - basically, he hadn't felt himself.

not have much to say for yourself

not strain yourself

▪

Continually adepts are warned that they must not strain themselves or try to experience these unnatural things.

only have yourself to thank (for sth)

orient yourself

▪

Alice missed it, as she groped to orient herself.

▪

Each centre will be designed to help even the most physically disabled or confused people move around and orient themselves easily.

▪

Gender is thus an interesting feature to consider when we ask how we orient ourselves.

▪

He has trouble orienting himself to any written work.

▪

Humankind needed to orient itself Continually by Signs, or by an address.

▪

In the process of being selves we tend to orient ourselves differently according to our gender.

▪

That most men orient themselves more as subjects than as citizens is a familiar theme.

overreach yourself

▪

A new generation of bankers who were not around last time will be encouraging them to overreach themselves.

▪

A truly tragic figure, Johnson had overreached himself.

▪

Did we overreach ourselves trying to build them?

▪

He left, and waited for his opponents to overreach themselves, which they proceeded to do.

▪

One lesson Athens had learnt, not to overreach herself with warfare in two theatres.

▪

Then her eating of the red apple was premature; she had overreached herself.

▪

Unlike Sting, Dylan and Bowie, Waits has never looked like a rock star overreaching himself.

owe it to yourself to do sth

▪

Do I owe it to myself to finish?

▪

For health insurance reasons you owe it to yourself to take care of your one and only body - your working machine.

▪

We owe it to ourselves to consider alternative futures, based on what we know and what we can project from that.

▪

You owe it to yourself to extract yourself from your present situation and reassess your life.

pace yourself

▪

It's a long climb, so you have to pace yourself.

▪

And scheduling meetings in ways that can help them pace themselves.

▪

Next he enlisted the help of his wife and two friends to remind him to say no more often and pace himself.

▪

Now he paced himself and took matters more steadily.

▪

Pause and pace yourself Most of us leave no time in our day for ourselves.

▪

Service was slow so we waited almost 30 minutes for our entrees-though we paced ourselves slowly through the appetizer.

▪

The lord has to learn how best to pace himself spiritually to allow this desire to integrate all his potential.

▪

The result is that post-job work-ers are going to have to learn to pace themselves.

▪

To pace yourself, doing enough to pay for a comfortable life and little enough to stay invisible.

park yourself

▪

My cat always parks herself in front of the heater.

▪

A-road architecture does not glide in silently overnight and park itself along our urban highways.

▪

Bring a picnic and park yourself in front of the Temperate House for an evening's entertainment.

▪

Connie parked herself on a white divan and poured out some black steaming liquid.

pat sb/yourself on the back

▪

She should pat herself on the back and take a well-earned break.

▪

Because when I pat myself on the back, the next sensation is usually a sharp kick lower down.

▪

Cliff Nudelman pats me on the back.

▪

Every person on the street will pat you on the back.

▪

For most of that ride it patted itself on the back.

▪

How dare she wave her bloody job at us like she wanted us to pat her on the back for it?

▪

I patted him on the back as hard as I dared but he still couldn't breathe.

▪

The manager patted Stuart on the back.

▪

This time I patted myself on the back all the way to the hotel.

perch (yourself) on sth

▪

He had perched himself on a tall wooden stool.

▪

He was perched on top of a huge cage, looking at the visitors.

▪

He went straight into the bedroom, to the wall where the painted Asiatic doll was perched on the sideboard.

▪

Her doorman was perched on a folding chair, his attention largely given over to a supermarket tabloid.

▪

It was perched on a small promontory to the east of the town, overlooking the bay.

▪

Léonie perched on the cold wet edge of the white bath and leaned forwards.

▪

Manningham perched on a black leather stool by a well-stocked bar with a large mirror behind it.

▪

Thrush-sized, it perched on a bank.

▪

Waterlogged, he perched on top of the cabin and soon gurgled his song.

perjure yourself

▪

And Mr Mitchum wouldn't perjure himself.

▪

It was true that I would never perjure myself.

pick yourself up

▪

Carol picked herself up and dusted herself off.

▪

A team in such a position is likely to find it hard to pick itself up.

▪

Although he picked himself up and walked away, he knew something was wrong.

▪

He picked himself up and staggered down a corridor.

▪

However, Grimm was already picking himself up, swearing, dusting himself off, retrieving his cap.

▪

I crashed to the ground, picked myself up, and began staggering around the car to the other side.

▪

I fell, picked myself up, lurched forward another yard or two, then fell again.

▪

Shaken and deafened, I picked myself up.

▪

Think of the toddler learning to walk and how often he falls down only to pick himself up and try again.

piss yourself (laughing)

▪

He felt very cold, and he had pissed himself.

▪

No older girl has ever pissed herself on account of Laverne before.

▪

We both pissed ourselves laughing afterwards, wondering what all the fuss was about.

play with yourself

▪

Play and Friendship Dolphins of all ages are frequently seen playing with each other.

▪

Back with the dancers, Humphreys peeled off all his clothes, started playing with himself and finally urinated on the dance-floor.

please yourself

▪

"I don't think I'll go." "Oh, well, please yourself. I'm going anyway."

▪

Oh, she would please herself, all right.

▪

She was going home to her flat to please herself for a few weeks.

▪

There was no foreman to watch over him and he could please himself when he made his walk around the yard.

▪

They must also want to please each other and help each other to find fulfilment, as well as looking for personal satisfaction.

▪

This is the first time in I-don't-know-how-many-years I can just please myself!

▪

Until I get there, though, I can please myself.

▪

We play not to please ourselves, but the listeners.

pleased with yourself

▪

After deceiving us all like that, she went away, no doubt very pleased with herself.

▪

I had made a big profit on the deal and was feeling inordinately pleased with myself.

▪

Selina looks awfully pleased with herself.

▪

Feeling pleased with herself, Loretta went back to her office.

▪

He hurried out exceedingly pleased with himself and enjoying the prospect of what promised to be a very good wrestling match.

▪

He just patted his pocket and grinned, looking awfully smug and pleased with himself.

▪

Robert the next day seemed urbane, sure of himself, even, she thought, pleased with himself.

▪

She was pleased with herself and her own calm style.

▪

Then he looked down, seemed pleased with himself, unembarrassed.

▪

This made me feel rather pleased with myself.

▪

You are pleased with yourself for venturing, testing your mettle.

plonk yourself (down)

▪

He was built like a brick shithouse and he plonked himself down right in front of the stage.

plop (yourself) down

▪

Stanley plopped down on the sofa beside me.

▪

Carefully, slowly, not at all certain why, they plopped down on to the branch.

▪

On our other side a young couple wandered by and plopped down with only a six-pack and a sleeping bag.

▪

Our friend Joan strolls into the bank and plops down $ 100 to open an account.

▪

She plopped down too much mortar, smoothed it out and set a brick on it.

▪

She plops down on the empty cot and lifts a curtain to peer out the window.

▪

The coyote returned to the barn end and plopped down in front of the crowd of llamas.

plump (yourself) down

▪

Peggy plumped down in the chair beside Otto.

plunk (yourself) down

▪

Americans love to plunk themselves down in front of the TV.

▪

I plunk down a dollar and confront my deepest fears.

▪

Marketers usually plunk down the equivalent of $ 40, 000 or so in cash, goods or services for placement.

▪

The beverage giant wants you to plunk down your money and decide for yourself.

present yourself

▪

Mendez presented himself at the Marine base in Virginia.

▪

As we reach the base, an inkling of a trail presents itself.

▪

He always presented himself as the redeemed bad boy, but it was a lie, she says.

▪

However, before competing again you must present yourself to the tournament doctor to have both the injury and your bandaging accepted.

▪

It is these patients who present themselves to the outpatient clinic.

▪

Rhetorically, he still presents himself as a supporter of bipartisanship.

▪

The rector could not avoid the thought that presented itself for consideration.

▪

Three difficulties present themselves: 1.

▪

Two immediate sets of questions present themselves about this tiny, unhappy minority of women who are imprisoned.

price yourself out of the market

pride yourself on (doing) sth

▪

As a nation we pride ourselves on our strong sense of sportsmanship and fair play.

▪

At Midland, we pride ourselves on establishing long term relationships with our customers.

▪

But then at Boots we pride ourselves on our usefulness to mums.

▪

Likud prides itself on being the party of the outsiders, and they are now a majority.

▪

The accommodation is cool and spotless and staff pride themselves on offering a warm welcome.

▪

The school prides itself on its ethnic diversity, Schaeffer said.

▪

We pride ourselves on the front seven and tackling people.

prop yourself up

▪

I propped myself up against a wall and took a deep breath.

▪

The soldier tried to prop himself up again using his crutches.

▪

Bernice propped herself up and took a bite.

▪

Brian propped himself up on his elbows, suddenly remembering that the alarm had gone off.

▪

He props himself up on one elbow.

▪

Hefinished the last rep and propped himself up on his elbows.

▪

I could see Peter shaking his head in the fairway, as he propped himself up on his sand wedge.

▪

Rufus had propped himself up on one elbow, watching.

▪

She stretched and propped herself up on an elbow, aware that something was not quite right.

▪

We're full of doubts and we try to prop each other up.

prostitute yourself

▪

He had no idea that I was prostituting myself in the cause of Jean-Claude's success.

▪

In the eyes of many Surkov was a discredited figure who had prostituted himself for privileges, such as this present trip.

▪

Stanley has told Mitch about Blanche prostituting herself.

▪

They'd imagine me prostituting myself, or on the hard stuff.

▪

Yes, I have prostituted myself for the sake of art.

prostrate yourself

▪

A man entered the room, and at once all the slaves prostrated themselves.

▪

A sudden flurry, as of a dozen Multhrops simultaneously prostrating themselves, and the doors were flung open.

▪

At Artai's back they knelt, and then prostrated themselves.

▪

He stood by Burun's side, knelt and bowed, then prostrated himself.

▪

I spun around to find that he had prostrated himself on the ground and was clasping my feet.

▪

Outside they prostrate themselves on wooden prayer beds.

▪

They came before the tent and prostrated themselves on the ground before following their chief to prison.

▪

This year, Hollywood mostly prostrated itself, hunkering down until the wind from the right blows over.

prove yourself (to be) sth

▪

Despite this, I felt it would be better to prove myself in basic training before allowing my real personality to resurface.

▪

Entrepreneur Larry Wilson defined the difference between desire and drive as the difference between expressing yourself and proving yourself.

▪

For them an elite must prove itself in this ability to murder.

▪

He was posted first to Reading, and was soon proving himself a soldier and horseman of rare incompetence.

▪

In the meantime you have to prove yourself by being extra good, and doing helpful things around the house.

▪

Outstanding Spartak have proved themselves the masters of away goals and just one tonight will seriously jeopardise Liverpool's hopes.

▪

The fourteen-year-old Gertrude was appointed as the abbess and proved herself deserving of the title.

▪

Unfortunately, molecular evidence, which has proved itself useful in other areas of disagreement, has yet to prove itself here.

prove yourself/prove something (to sb)

pull yourself together

▪

Pull yourself together - you don't want him to see you crying like that.

▪

Pull yourself together. It's ridiculous to get upset about such a silly little thing.

▪

But then she pulled herself together.

▪

Head in her hands, she tried to pull herself together.

▪

In March, 1939 I pulled myself together sufficiently.

▪

It's about time Joe pulled himself together.

▪

It took them seconds to pull themselves together and reorganize themselves.

▪

This was another occasion on which, as Margie put it, Margarett pulled herself together.

▪

Yet, again and again, now as before, the people have pulled themselves together and gotten on with life.

pull yourself up/to your feet etc

▪

Behind Duvall, Jimmy could see that Barbara was pulling herself to her feet.

▪

Granny pulled herself to her feet and tottered over to the bench, where Hodgesaargh had left his jar of flame.

▪

On March 4 she caught hold of the end of her buggy and twice pulled herself to her feet.

▪

Weary now that the excitement of the film was no longer sweeping her along, she pulled herself to her feet.

▪

Whitlock pulled himself to his feet and winced as a sharp pain shot through his left leg.

pull/haul yourself up by your bootstraps

punish yourself

▪

Do not attempt to punish yourself for not making adequate progress.

▪

Do you punish yourself or feel guilty if you fail?

▪

He himself does nothing wrong yet he still punishes himself for other's wrong doings.

▪

However, Gottlieb did not punish herself with guilt.

▪

Perhaps you felt guilty about ignoring a charity collection, and so decided to punish yourself?

▪

She was very sorry for her mistake and was therefore punishing herself by agreeing to marry him.

▪

Sometimes he punished himself when others were inclined to exonerate him.

▪

Such resistance to being well necessitated the idea of unconscious forces of guilt; the patients sought to punish themselves through illness.

put yourself about

put yourself across

put yourself out

▪

I wouldn't want to put yourself out just for me.

▪

A lot of people round here have put themselves out for me.

▪

Also, I was not keen on the prospect of putting myself out without desire.

▪

As if her father's interminable complaints were not enough, nomatterhow she put herself out to please him.

▪

I bad to ask around and write letters and put myself out to make it happen.

▪

Kept Ireland out of the war, but that doesn't mean he's putting himself out for your people.

▪

Mauve put himself out in all sorts of ways - a highly irritable man who could be expansively generous.

▪

They put themselves out of reach.

▪

You got ta put yourself out, at risk.

range yourself with/against sb/sth

realign yourself with sb

▪

The inquisitive Warlord turned to realign itself with its mechanical peers which strode onward together in line abreast, to massacre Marines.

redeem yourself

▪

The Bears will have a chance to redeem themselves in Saturday's game.

▪

A state lawmaker wants death-row inmates to have a chance to redeem themselves and help their fellow man.

▪

Gerrard then redeemed himself with a double save.

▪

He redeemed himself by sending over a good cross for P Reid to put the Olympic in front.

▪

Now he has redeemed himself in overseeing her recovery.

▪

The only way we could redeem ourselves was by getting out of the first round.

▪

There was a sense of we had to come back and redeem ourselves.

▪

You must, in short, become a born-again consumer, redeem yourself, and find peace.

reinvent yourself

▪

Madonna kept winning new fans as she reinvented herself.

▪

By remixing and adding new parts to certain sections they have successfully managed to reinvent themselves.

▪

City, state and federal governments reinvent themselves, scaling back, spending less on human services.

▪

In this fast-changing environment, several commercial on-line services are trying to reinvent themselves.

▪

New skills can increase personal satisfaction Women in particular are susceptible to believing that improving their appearance can help them reinvent themselves.

▪

Simply put, 88open either has to reinvent itself or hang it up.

▪

The company intends to reinvent itself from a leading distributor of on-line content into primarily a developer of on-line content.

▪

The emphasis can only grow as even large companies are forced to reinvent themselves along more entrepreneurial, internet-enabled lines.

▪

They reinvent themselves, often without a model for their paternal roles.

relieve yourself

▪

After rolling on the sand in excruciating pain until stars lit up the sky, he relieved himself for a good half-hour.

▪

By releasing it into the world, he relieved himself and taunted the fates to punish him.

▪

Cocaine users often feel as though they need the drug to relieve themselves of the tired feeling and to function normally.

▪

Missus Hall would relieve herself on old newspapers in the alleyways on Central Avenue.

▪

On average, young puppies may relieve themselves about six times a day.

▪

The corollary is that acquiring an addiction is tantamount to relieving oneself of personal responsibility.

▪

Threlfall turned his back and waited for the man to finish relieving himself.

▪

When their overlords came out to relieve themselves in the snow, the serfs collected the urine to drink.

reproach yourself

▪

He reproached himself for not having called police sooner.

▪

There's no point in reproaching yourself - there's nothing you could have done.

▪

And then, again, she reproached herself for unfairness.

▪

He reproached himself for not having thought of something before.

▪

He marked this trespass into the private clubhouse of cynicism and reproached himself for it.

▪

I have no doubt Margaret reproached herself, - perhaps still does.

▪

Oh, vanity, vanity! she thought, reproaching herself.

▪

The rest of us were left to reproach ourselves for what had happened.

▪

They chivvy and reproach each other as we eat.

▪

You and Fred have nothing to reproach yourselves with.

resign yourself to (doing) sth

▪

He seems to have resigned himself to living without her.

▪

Adair, who loves Virgilia, resigns himself to be her confidant and Fergus' mentor.

▪

Finally I resign myself to the truth: Anne Frank is dead, she will never write anything else.

▪

He had resigned himself to it.

▪

I resign myself to being among them soon enough.

▪

I resigned myself to merciless stick over the coming week.

▪

I never particularly relished torture, but I resigned myself to it when I arrived in Algiers...

▪

Lucille had seen the Prince's arrival and hasty departure, and had resigned herself to Sharpe's absence.

▪

Lydia was resigning herself to a long stretch of celibacy.

restrict yourself/sb to (doing) sth

▪

But some states have restricted access to medications.

▪

Even if you have restricted access to kids-only Internet sites and chat rooms, kids can still do it.

▪

Note, we do not restrict player A to use a linear strategy.

▪

Scarlet was enormously prestigious: the thirteenth-century sumptuary laws of the kingdom of Castile and Leon restricted its use to the king.

▪

She spent time with her friends and restricted herself to ten minutes on the perfection of Lucy.

▪

The funds do not, in practice, restrict themselves to big companies.

▪

We ow restrict our attention to simple pencils, where symmetric or not.

retreat into yourself/your shell/fantasy etc

▪

I retreated into my shell, being painfully shy in the first place.

reverse yourself

▪

But new policies, like huge airplanes hurtling down a runway, do not reverse themselves.

▪

He asked the council to reverse itself on the variance, which it did.

▪

He gripped her and swung her over, reversing himself along her body.

▪

In the past the senator has supported these programs, but last year he reversed himself.

▪

It would mean reversing himself on three points: price reform, budget discipline and privatisation of land and property.

▪

Now, Virginians seem to have reversed themselves.

▪

Special prosecutor Kenneth Starr, reversing himself after days of criticism, Friday said he would continue to lead the Whitewater investigation.

▪

This quickly reverses itself into cabinet control.

rupture yourself

say to yourself

▪

"Face it, Jack, you're getting old," he said to himself.

▪

Another few weeks, he says to himself, and every morning will be like this one.

▪

His wife, Tess said to herself.

▪

I said to myself that the world is revolting and man is pitiful.

▪

I said to myself: ridiculous.

▪

Just look at him, Blue says to himself.

▪

The worm will turn, he said to himself silently.

▪

We think, but we don't really know what they were saying to each other behind closed doors.

seat yourself (in/on/beside etc sth)

▪

At two o'clock she seated herself at a window-table in a restaurant overlooking the Nile, near where the houseboat was moored.

▪

Hardin noted that thoughtfully and seated himself wearily in a corner just as far from the other five as possible.

▪

He seated himself at one end, and Emily sat beside him.

▪

He watched Ewen steadily, while the constable, who had seated himself at the kitchen table, was taking notes.

▪

She seated herself in a wicker chair and took her mug without speaking.

▪

She seats herself, opens it, begins to play.

▪

The pupils seat themselves in a square representing the doctor's office.

▪

Watson, and seat yourself precisely as you were overnight.

sell yourself

▪

If you want a promotion, you've got to sell yourself better.

▪

Don't be negative or apologetic - remember you're selling yourself, and should highlight your good points.

▪

For the candidate the same basic rules of selling yourself apply as for one-to-one interviews.

▪

Let the kids sell themselves the way the schools peddle their athletic programs.

▪

Now it is selling itself as the natural arena for developing companies in the new Länder.

▪

She was going to sell herself - she has sold herself by now - and would have sold me - for supper.

▪

So I don't sell myself to him.

▪

Still, one could not help but feel that with Last Supper Frank had sold himself short.

▪

You will be choosing the organization and then selling yourself to them, rather than relying solely upon answering newspaper advertisements.

set yourself against (doing) sth

▪

But pop sets itself against nature and abandons wisdom for folly, moments of dissipation.

▪

She leaned into him, set herself against him.

▪

The three Established Church representatives set themselves against; the other four who were Free Churchmen were for it.

▪

Why has the Supreme Court set itself against the will of the majority on such an unprecedented scale?

set yourself up as sth

▪

After all, she was the one who'd set herself up as Jett's little helper.

▪

Everyone thinks he can set himself up as a dramatic critic.

▪

He set himself up as a one-man cult.

▪

It's not that he wishes to set himself up as a leader.

▪

Roads and Traffic in Urban Areas has, by its own proclamation, set itself up as the Bible for traffic planners.

▪

She was too young to be setting herself up as the devoted handmaiden to the great man.

▪

Why do they set themselves up as tradesmen if that's all they're going to do?

shit yourself

▪

Fact is, comin' here from the fence I fuckin' near shit myself each time you stopped.

▪

He shits himself each day that they will send him there.

▪

To shit oneself is to admit existence.

shoot yourself in the foot

▪

If we just let him keep talking, pretty soon he's going to shoot himself in the foot.

▪

Once again, the government has shot itself in the foot -- this time by reducing widows' pensions.

▪

A classic case of shooting ourselves in the foot, the chairman, Sir Alan Cockshaw, admitted ruefully yesterday.

▪

But at the end of the day, they could end up shooting themselves in the foot.

▪

Conceptually, the worst crime committed here is that the story shoots itself in the foot by making the political too personal.

▪

He certainly shot himself in the foot, pulling out of Glastonbury and playing Finsbury Park.

▪

Men shot themselves in the foot, like in wartime.

▪

So they shot themselves in the foot.

▪

This is another classic example of our ability to shoot ourselves in the feet.

▪

Yet when Labour's prospects are rosiest, it always seems to shoot itself in the foot.

shut yourself away

▪

She shut herself away in her room to work on her novel.

▪

Adolph wouldn't want you shutting yourself away.

▪

And others were so deeply affected that they withdrew from the community, shutting themselves away in their homes.

▪

From there he moved on to Edinburgh, and finally shut himself away in his much embellished palace of Falkland to die.

▪

Not a good idea to shut yourself away like this once you got a bit older, thought Meredith.

▪

She should never have shut herself away in that dreadful place.

▪

You could shut yourself away in this garret all day and never come down.

shut yourself in (sth)

▪

Before every game, he shuts himself in his office for an hour and pores over the scouting reports.

▪

Finally she shut herself in the attic room on Ella's day off and sobbed until she ached in body and soul.

▪

Fuming, Christopher shut himself in the house.

▪

Saturday I went again, but she shut herself in her room.

▪

She shut herself in out of the drizzling rain, and expressed her delight with everything.

▪

She took one out and carried it up to her bedroom and shut herself in.

▪

She took the report, told them all where to find her if necessary and shut herself in her office.

▪

So Ellie darted back to her room, and shut herself in, her heart pounding.

shut yourself off

▪

He shuts himself off from his two young daughters and composes laments to his dead wife.

▪

I shut myself off from the female race and channelled all my energy into my work.

▪

Students who avoid learning even the basics can shut themselves off from important sources in the field.

smarten yourself up

▪

Smarten up! It's time for inspection.

▪

Jeremy, go smarten yourself up before dinner.

▪

She's smartening herself up in the ladies' room.

speak for yourself

▪

"We're not interested in going to the game." "Hey, speak for yourself."

▪

Facts should normally be allowed to speak for themselves: to spell out a conclusion may spell danger.

▪

In this oracular role, though, she does not speak for herself.

▪

Let these facts speak for themselves: By the time Barbie was invented, I was too old for dolls.

▪

Nevertheless, this is an ultimately inspiring study of prisoners speaking for themselves.

▪

That rather speaks for itself. 6.

▪

The alacrity with which northerners enlisted for military service whenever warfare flared up on the Border speaks for itself.

▪

The arrangement seemed to speak for itself: Alice, the true love.

▪

Yet the belief that a videotape somehow speaks for itself persisted.

spread yourself too thin

▪

BHart said the organization, though well-intentioned, might be spreading itself too thin.

steel yourself

▪

I had to steel myself before I could tell her about the accident.

▪

Jim steeled himself for a fight.

▪

She steeled herself to look at the body again.

▪

And now he must steel himself to face a future without both his parents.

▪

He stood straight and still, breathing hard as if he were steeling himself to do something.

▪

I steel myself to look them in the eyes.

▪

I steeled myself, reached all the way in, and unlocked the door.

▪

She had been expecting changes and had steeled herself not to resent them.

▪

The small staff of doctors, nurses and psychotherapists is steeling itself for an expected 100 percent increase in clients next year.

▪

To steel himself, he served as a witness at two state executions.

stuff yourself

▪

I watched Claude stuff himself into his trousers.

▪

She so obviously hadn't given up stuffing herself with Salmon's cream buns.

▪

The naan bread was big; we'd both stuffed ourselves with it during the meal but it was still big.

▪

The Scarecrow stuffed himself with fresh straw and Dorothy put new paint on his eyes that he might see better.

▪

We do know that some people stuff themselves with fiber and still get cancer.

▪

We laugh as we stuff ourselves with bouillabaisse.

▪

When I first started thinking about Christmas, I decided to spend it alone and stuff myself with food.

▪

Your son knows where it comes from even if he doesn't take the stuff himself.

style yourself sth

submerge yourself in sth

▪

Alice submerged herself in work to try and forget about Tom.

▪

He preferred, he said, to submerge himself in the urban swill, or be in deep country.

▪

Often, departing high-level administration types go teach dry government courses or submerge themselves in think tanks.

▪

She looked into his dark eyes and submerged herself in the bliss of being flattered.

▪

With resigned disgust, Alice lay back, submerging herself in the only softness available at that time-the pillow.

suit yourself

▪

A visitor or resident may move a small table to suit themselves - it could mean a broken hip for another resident.

▪

And not betraying the past, either, not rewriting our private history to suit herself.

▪

Casual or classically smart, there are spots, stripes and bold blocks of vibrant colour so you really can suit yourself!

▪

I choose my assignments to suit myself.

▪

In a strange kind of way, they suited each other.

▪

Of course as the interviewer you basically arrange the interview to suit yourself.

▪

Once the pair has been installed in the breeding tank, they will begin to alter the decor to suit themselves.

▪

You may suit yourself on that one!

sun yourself

▪

But a srnall gator sunned himself on a bank, an egret leaned forward knee-deep in the standing pool.

▪

Even the life-giving sun itself is being accused and feared like a violent criminal on the loose.

▪

It was sunning itself on the path.

▪

It was true there were many snakes there on hot days sunning themselves but that did not worry him.

▪

Lee Ann took all her clothes off and lay down to sun herself on the flying bridge.

▪

Red jungle fowl, the ancestors of all our domestic chickens, sun themselves on the edge of the forest.

▪

Redlands Here you can relax in a pine lodge overlooking a lovely garden, or sun yourself on the semi-circular sun terrace.

▪

They like to sun themselves on pavement too hot to walk on in shoes.

sure of yourself

▪

Go ahead and try, if you're so sure of yourself.

▪

He sounded so sure of himself that I didn't bother to argue.

▪

Jenny was younger than her sister but seemed much more sure of herself.

▪

Gentiles resented the trekkers, but the Saints grew ever more sure of themselves.

▪

He's all mixed up and dead sure of himself.

▪

He was just too beautiful, too confident, too sure of himself.

▪

Nephthys was younger than her brother, but seemed older, and more sure of herself.

▪

Robert the next day seemed urbane, sure of himself, even, she thought, pleased with himself.

▪

She is utterly fearless and sure of herself, small in stature but large in moxie.

▪

The children were hardly children, so capable and sure of themselves were they.

▪

We no longer are so sure of ourselves or of our past.

surround yourself with sb/sth

▪

Surrounding himself with capable men, Romero worked hard to achieve his goals.

▪

Along the way, Gosman has surrounded himself with former Mediplex executives at PhyMatrix.

▪

Dole surrounded himself with young people, a major contrast to his usual entourage of dark-suited politicians.

▪

In many species the basic unit is the harem, with one dominant male surrounding himself with a number of breeding females.

▪

It has surrounded itself with a region from which nothing - absolutely nothing - can escape.

▪

Special treat: surrounding themselves with plastic ship models and watching Tora!

▪

Territorials surround themselves with briefcases, calendars, and large bushy plants.

▪

The president managed, as always, to surround himself with beautiful women at dinner.

take it upon/on yourself to do sth

▪

He didn't dare take it upon himself to enlighten her further.

▪

He might be unwelcome, but he had taken it upon himself to come on over the first moment he heard.

▪

If we want our children to know certain information, perhaps we should take it upon ourselves to teach them.

▪

It is a dangerous path, however, when the executive takes it upon itself to qualify Parliament's decisions.

▪

Many problems can be prevented if you take it upon yourself to keep the lines of communication clear.

▪

Pius took it upon himself to proclaim the Dogma of the Assumption.

▪

Sir Herbert Morgan took it upon himself to act as chairman of an unofficial committee to help realise the three-year project.

▪

So I took it upon myself to tell her, old nosey-parker that I am.

talk to yourself

▪

"What did you say?" "Nothing, I was just talking to myself."

▪

Betty was talking to herself under her breath as she worked.

▪

I think he's going crazy - he talks to himself all the time.

▪

A system is anything that talks to itself.

▪

And, as he played, he seemed to talk to himself under his breath.

▪

Clients are often totally unaware of how negatively they may be talking to themselves, anticipating failure and minimizing success.

▪

Googol talked to himself in a muffled manner or merely droned - hard to say which - whenever he was in space.

▪

He walked along talking to himself.

▪

It was funny, she was sort of talking to herself.

▪

They drank their tea and did not talk to each other.

▪

We continually talk to ourselves about them, losing force all the time, and feel that we are very badly treated.

tart yourself up/get tarted up

tell yourself sth

think for yourself

▪

'You're going to have to start thinking for yourself,' said David sternly.

▪

I try to encourage my students to think for themselves.

▪

Parents should encourage their children to think for themselves.

▪

The purpose of this question is to force students to think for themselves.

▪

And you learn about the real necessity of acting and thinking for yourself.

▪

Authority can be mistaken and it can cover up ignorance with prestige and prevent people from thinking for themselves.

▪

Characters have stopped thinking for themselves...

▪

He did not seem able to deal with anyone who wished to work from understanding, or able to think for himself.

▪

My aims include encouraging pupils to think for themselves and to choose their own methods of working.

▪

Tanya insists on moving in many circles and, above all, on thinking for herself.

▪

This problem is not discussed in the text; the purpose of this question is to force students to think for themselves.

▪

You have to think for yourself, David told him.

think only of yourself

▪

No, they think only of themselves.

▪

Why am I thinking only of myself?

throw yourself at sb

▪

Could you believe how Diana threw herself at Eric?

▪

Ace threw herself at the speeder controls, stamping on the throttle override while wrenching the steering column forward.

▪

Alyson throws herself at all angles on the big couch.

▪

By holding back, pretending concern, he'd made her practically throw herself at him.

▪

I throw myself at this Azadi and we wrestle like children in the mud.

▪

Moravcik sent over another delicious corner, which Stilian Petrov threw himself at to score.

▪

She's throwing herself at that man, making a complete fool of herself.

▪

She had no urge whatever to throw herself at Mitch.

▪

You put him in a situation where women are throwing themselves at him.

throw yourself at/on/into/down etc

▪

At this stage, the urge to do something was unfocused, but it was extraordinary how people threw themselves into it.

▪

Grief-stricken, he threw himself on her..

▪

He kicked it in, threw himself on the floor and rolled under the bed.

▪

I threw myself down on the bed and sobbed bitterly.

▪

I threw myself into organising the funeral, picking out the music I wanted played.

▪

Like Billy McFadzean who in 1916 threw himself on two bombs to save his comrades in the trenches of the Somme.

▪

They threw themselves down on the street or took shelter behind cars and in doorways.

▪

You put him in a situation where women are throwing themselves at him.

throw yourself into sth

▪

Since her husband died, she's thrown herself into her work.

▪

He must throw himself into his work, forget her.

▪

He tried for years without success until finally, in utter despair, he threw himself into the kiln.

▪

Luckily, the boys heard the scuffle and ran out to throw themselves into the fray.

▪

Margarett threw herself into the trip.

▪

Mary was so chagrined that she threw herself into a life of promiscuity.

▪

She took the report, went out into the department and threw herself into her work with tight-lipped determination.

▪

This caused such a stir that Harrison threw himself into the cause of medical reform.

▪

To keep things together, he threw himself into his work.

throw yourself on sb's mercy

▪

For a craven moment she was tempted to go back and throw herself on the mercy of the landlady.

▪

I would throw myself on the mercy of the circuit-house, usually reserved for traveling politicians and sundry bigwigs.

▪

You're so sweet I just wanted to throw myself on your mercy and beg you to help me.

tie yourself (up) in knots

▪

Sharon has tied herself up in knots worrying about her job.

top yourself

▪

Alas, I felt the need to top myself each time out.

▪

Silent Scream attempts to do the same for Larry Winters, a Glaswegian murderer who waxed poetic behind bars before topping himself.

unburden yourself (to sb)

▪

George dropped his hands from his face, and very quickly realized that the young man was longing to unburden himself.

▪

He had been feeling guilty and needed to unburden himself.

▪

It was as if Jack was preparing to unburden himself, to share his secrets with her.

▪

Nevertheless, I feel the need to unburden myself in print.

▪

Sometimes he would have liked to unburden himself to somebody, but his officers and men had their own problems.

▪

The laibon now begins to unburden himself.

▪

To unburden themselves of arranging and directing these tasks, grieving families turn to funeral directors.

unsure of yourself

▪

At first, Chris seemed nervous and unsure of herself.

▪

He was only 21 and still very unsure of himself with girls.

▪

Dole often seemed frustrated and unsure of himself as Democrats blocked many of the bills he tried to move through Congress.

▪

He had lost many of the people who mattered to him, and he was unsure of himself and his abilities.

▪

His team at times looked flustered, lost on defense and unsure of itself on offense.

▪

Instead, they are weak and unsure of themselves.

▪

Like many men, deep down he was unsure of himself.

▪

None of us knew what to expect; we all felt somewhat unsure of one another.

▪

Whereas she had once felt confident, now she felt unsure of herself in this new role.

▪

Woil looked around him and seemed suddenly confused and unsure of himself.

what have you got to say for yourself?

what to do with yourself

▪

I don't know what to do with myself.

▪

Once at the top, he had no idea what to do with himself.

▪

Still, it didn't take me long to make up my mind what to do with myself.

▪

Wade stopped and waited, not sure what to do with himself.

work yourself into a frenzy/panic/state etc

▪

A 16-year-old girl works herself into a frenzy of grief for a friend killed by right-wing vigilantes.

▪

I could see at once he was working himself into a panic about it all.

▪

I knew I was working myself into a state, but I kept on staring at the picture of the dead girl.

▪

It was silly to work himself into a state like this.

▪

Make sure that the horse stays calm and does not work himself into a frenzy.

▪

You're working yourself into a state.

work/drive/run yourself into the ground

▪

But don't drive yourself into the ground .

▪

I've already explained to you how I've worked myself into the ground setting up the interview.

▪

I tried working myself into the ground , but I could be totally exhausted and still remember.

▪

Mitchell and White ran themselves into the ground and Nicky Summerbee tried everything he could to get a goal.

▪

They ran themselves into the ground , ran Chesterfield off the pitch, but they couldn't get another goal.

wrench yourself away/free

▪

Adam closed the front door and stood there for a moment as if he could not wrench himself away.

▪

Claws snagged on the photographer's clothing, but he managed to wrench himself away.

▪

Without you white birds would wrench themselves free from my paintings and fly off dripping blood into the night.

you can't hear yourself think

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

▪

If you want something done right, you'd better do it yourself .

▪

It must be true - you told me so yourself .

▪

This is the perfect suit for a businessman such as yourself , sir.

▪

You'll hurt yourself if you're not careful.

▪

You can make yourself a cup of coffee.