I. adverb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a back window
▪
The burglar had got in through one of the back windows.
a back/front/side pocket
▪
He took a wad of money from his back pocket.
a back/heart/kidney etc problem
▪
He was born with heart problems.
a chair leg/arm/back/seat
▪
The chair leg has broken.
a crick in your back/neck
▪
He was getting a crick in his neck from leaning out of the window for so long.
a side road/a back road (= a small road that is not used much )
▪
He drove into a quiet side road and stopped the car.
a side/back street (= a small quiet street near the main street )
▪
The restaurant is tucked away in a side street.
arched...back
▪
The dog arched its back .
as far back as
▪
The first petrol-driven car was produced as far back as 1883.
back catalogue
back country
back door
▪
His father works there, so he got in through the back door.
back East
▪
He was born in Utah but went to college back East .
back formation
back here
▪
Will you be back here tonight?
back lanes (= narrow unimportant roads, often behind a row of houses )
▪
a network of alleys and back lanes
back office
▪
back-office operations
back out of/pull out of a deal (= decide not to make a deal after discussing one )
▪
Twenty-five jobs were lost after their partner pulled out of the deal.
back rent (= rent you owe for an earlier period )
▪
Mrs Carr said she is still owed several thousand dollars in back rent.
back seat
▪
Finally, Bryant decided to take a back seat and let his son run the company.
back story
▪
The back story of why she hates her father is a bit too contrived.
back then (= a long time ago when things were different )
▪
I was paid £1000, which was a lot of money back then in the 1950s.
back to normal
▪
Thankfully, train services are now back to normal .
back together
▪
He took the engine apart and then put it back together again.
back up a claim (= support it )
▪
They challenged him to back up his claims with evidence.
back/chest/stomach etc pain
▪
Many people suffer from back pain.
back/hind foot (= of an animal )
▪
The horse lifted its back foot.
backing singers (= people who sing with her )
▪
Tina Turner’s backing singers
back/reverse a car (= make it move backwards )
▪
Suzy backed the car into the driveway.
back/shoulder/throat etc spasm
be back to/at square one
▪
The police are now back at square one in their investigation.
bring back memories ( also rekindle/revive memories formal ) (= make you remember something )
▪
For many older people, the film brought back memories of the war.
bring sb back to consciousness
▪
The doctors were unable to bring her back to consciousness.
bring sb back to reality (= make them realize what is happening around them or true )
▪
She was brought back to reality by the pain in her ankle.
came roaring back
▪
In the second half Leeds came roaring back with two goals in five minutes.
choked back tears
▪
He choked back tears as he described what had happened.
come back into fashion (= become fashionable again )
▪
Short skirts are coming back into fashion this year.
come back to haunt
▪
an error that would come back to haunt them for years to come
coming back into fashion
▪
High heels are coming back into fashion .
fight/choke/blink back tears (= try not to cry )
▪
She fought back tears yesterday as she re-lived the horrors she had seen.
fighting back...tears
▪
She looked away, fighting back her tears .
forced back...tears
▪
Janet forced back her tears .
front/back yard
▪
The kids were playing in the back yard.
get back to a subject
▪
Somehow I just knew in the end we would get back to the subject of money.
get back to nature
▪
city workers who want to get back to nature in their holidays
get back to normal
▪
Life was beginning to get back to normal .
get back to sleep
▪
I couldn’t get back to sleep .
get your breath back ( also catch your breath ) (= start breathing normally again )
▪
He leant against a tree until he had got his breath back.
get your deposit back
▪
You'll get your deposit back when all the bills have been paid.
give sb their deposit back
▪
When I left, the landlord refused to give me my deposit back.
give sb their money back ( also refund sb’s money ) (= give money back to a customer )
▪
We regret that we are unable to refund money on tickets.
go back a long way (= we have been friends for a long time )
▪
We go back a long way .
go back on an agreement ( also renege on an agreement formal ) (= not do what you agreed to do )
▪
Republican leaders accused Democrats of trying to renege on an agreement to have a House vote.
go back on your promise (= break it )
▪
They were angry that the company had gone back on its promise.
go back on your word/promise/decision
▪
Delors claimed that the President had gone back on his word.
go back to square one (= used when you start something again because you were not successful the first time )
▪
Okay, let’s go back to square one and try again.
go back to/return to your seat
▪
The audience clapped as he returned to his seat.
go back/get back to sleep (= sleep again after waking up )
▪
He shut his eyes and went back to sleep.
go back/get back to sleep (= sleep again after waking up )
▪
He shut his eyes and went back to sleep.
hold back the tears (= not cry even though you feel like crying )
▪
She gave her version of events, often struggling to hold back the tears.
hold back...tears
▪
She struggled to hold back her tears .
keep back the tears
▪
She was struggling to keep back the tears .
keep sth/get sth back on an even keel
▪
Now that the crisis is over, we must try to get things back on an even keel.
know...like the back of my hand (= I know it very well )
▪
I grew up here; I know the place like the back of my hand .
lay flat on...back
▪
That night I lay flat on my back and stared up at the ceiling.
lean back in your chair
▪
He leant back in his chair and took out his pipe.
Looking back on it
▪
Looking back on it , I still can’t figure out what went wrong.
memories come flooding back (= you suddenly remember things clearly )
▪
Evelyn hugged her daughter, as memories came flooding back to her.
neck/back/knee brace (= a brace that supports the neck etc )
▪
He was being fitted for a back brace.
nursed...back to health
▪
After Ray’s operation, Mrs Stallard nursed him back to health .
on the back of an envelope (= used to describe a calculation or plan that is written down quickly on any available small piece of paper )
▪
She scribbled a few ideas on the back of an envelope.
open/draw (back)/pull back the curtains (= open them )
▪
Would you mind opening the curtains?
open/draw (back)/pull back the curtains (= open them )
▪
Would you mind opening the curtains?
plough back...profits
▪
Companies can plough back their profits into new equipment.
push back the frontiers (= discover new things )
push back your chair (= in order to get up )
▪
He pushed back his chair and stood up.
put your watch back (= make it show an earlier time )
▪
On Saturday night, don’t forget to put your watch back an hour.
regain/get back/recover your sanity
▪
I took a vacation to try to recover my sanity.
repay/pay off/pay back a loan (= give back the money you borrowed, usually over a period of time )
▪
You can repay the loan early without a penalty.
return sth to the library/take sth back to the library
▪
Have you taken those books back to the library?
return to work/go back to work
▪
His doctor agreed he was fit enough to return to work.
return to/come back into the fold
▪
The Church will welcome him back into the fold.
return/come back etc empty-handed
▪
I spent all morning looking for a suitable present, but came home empty-handed.
sb's front/back teeth
▪
Some of his front teeth were missing.
short back and sides
sth’s origins go back to sth (= used to say when or how something began )
▪
The school’s origins go back to the 12th century.
stiff neck/back/joint etc
▪
Alastair woke with a stiff neck.
support/back a proposal
▪
Not one of these organizations supports the government's proposals.
support/defend/back sb to the hilt
▪
I’m backing the PM to the hilt on this.
swinging...back and forth
▪
He was swinging his bag back and forth .
the back garden British English (= behind a house )
▪
The children are playing in the back garden.
the back of the net
▪
Henry kicked the ball into the back of the net .
the back of your hand (= the outside surface of your hand )
▪
Let a dog sniff the back of your hand, rather than your fingers.
the back/end of the queue
▪
Get to the back of the queue!
the back/rear wheel
▪
The rear wheels of the bus got stuck in a creek.
the front/back cover
▪
The price of the book is on the back cover.
the front/back door key
▪
She felt in her pocket for the front door key.
the front/back edge
▪
I banged my elbow on the front edge of the desk.
the front/back gate (= the gate in front of or at the back of a building )
▪
She stood outside the front gate of the cottage.
the front/back page (= of a newspaper )
▪
Her picture was on the front page of every newspaper.
the front/back/rear seat (= in a car )
▪
Never leave bags on the back seat of a car.
the front/back/rear/side entrance
▪
There is a long drive with steps leading to the front entrance.
the front/back/side door (= of a house )
▪
I heard someone knocking at the front door.
▪
Use the back door if your boots are muddy.
there and back
▪
It’s too far to drive there and back in one day.
there’s no turning back (= you cannot change this )
▪
We’ve promised to help, and there’s no turning back !
tie...back
▪
I tie my hair back when I’m jogging.
Welcome back
▪
Welcome back – it’s good to see you again.
well back
▪
Stand well back from the edge of the platform.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ VERB
win
▪
The child must know how to win back the favour of its parents.
▪
Over time, both parents won back their authority, he said.
▪
He missed Josh terribly, but knew there was no way of winning back his affections at the moment.
▪
They must build her a great temple near the town and so win back the favor of her heart.
▪
He campaigned tirelessly to win back the twice yearly courts or assizes, which Buckingham had lost to Aylesbury.
▪
Right now our goal is to win back the House.
▪
Now it's up to you to win back your right to choose.
▪
After Fitzgerald won back his job through a court fight, the generals made sure he was given nothing to do.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
(go) back to the drawing board
▪
Voters rejected the bridge expansion plan, so it's back to the drawing board for city engineers.
▪
For San Jose, it was back to the drawing board.
▪
So Superman, once the most recognized and revered hero in comic books, was sent back to the drawing board.
▪
Sometimes, you also have to go back to the drawing board.
▪
The Cta episode has therefore sent the whole idea of direct dating of petroglyphs back to the drawing board.
▪
They must go back to the drawing board and review the whole of youth training.
▪
They want to see the road plan sent back to the drawing board.
▪
You also could go back to the drawing board with that budget, trying to reduce costs.
▪
You have to discard the propeller engine and go back to the drawing board.
I'll be right with you/right there/right back
a monkey on your back
a pat on the back
▪
I think you all deserve a pat on the back for your hard work.
▪
I think we should give Fairclough a pat on the back for his performances in the last few games.
▪
It amounts to a pat on the back.
▪
Just a smile or a pat on the back may keep a student working.
▪
No one gets past him without an encouraging word, a pat on the back, a smile.
▪
Now congratulate your loved one and give yourself a pat on the back as well for your own agility around the course.
▪
That was intended to be a pat on the back - as one of several others - for me.
▪
The tournament-sponsoring Thunderbirds deserve a pat on the back.
▪
Try starting with a pat on the back to soften the blow of criticism.
a slap on the back
▪
a congratulatory slap on the back
back in the day
back on the rails
▪
He was back on the rails , and moving again.
▪
It seems that matters have fallen behind schedule and need to be put back on the rails .
back seat driver
back to basics
▪
A constructive response to the Howie Report would be more pertinent than saloon-bar simplicities about getting back to basics .
▪
His party claims to be the party of law and order, the family, back to basics .
▪
In other words, forget your fancy gender studies: the neo-Darwinists were marching us back to basics .
▪
Last Wednesday was all about back to basics and glimpses of optimism.
▪
Now, however, it seems that the route to success may once again involve going back to basics .
▪
This month's personal finance column therefore takes a back to basics look at expatriate tax.
▪
Try to counter nervousness by getting right back to basics .
back to nature
▪
He longed to explore, to take the wild adventure of going completely back to nature .
▪
Such language glances back to nature worship.
▪
When people talk of going back to nature , do they really know what they are asking for?
back-handed compliment
▪
It's a back-handed compliment really, you know.
bad heart/leg/back etc
▪
A sweetheart, this little lady, not bad legs either.
▪
For Joshua, at sixty-two, and suffering from a bad leg, distances had begun to take on an extraordinary significance.
▪
He had a bad back as well, you know, just like Rich.
▪
He had a bad leg and they kept on at him to hurry up.
▪
Medical deferment for a very bad heart.
▪
That coming from him who would go sick with a bad back whenever a job tired him.
▪
The problems-from bad backs to carpal tunnel syndrome to headaches-have made the headlines of every health magazine in the country.
be back in business
▪
After appearing to be in terminal decline the monarchy is back in business .
▪
By the summer of 1992 the dress patrols were back in business .
▪
Last week, Peron was back in business , with a few cosmetic changes.
▪
Male speaker We're setting up in another hangar and hope to be back in business soon.
▪
Nice to see Dave Hill's barber is back in business .
▪
Stop Press: Liverpool is back in business .
▪
The company was back in business .
▪
The Cumberland Tavern - now under new management - is back in business as a rock venue.
be back where you started
▪
If we lose tomorrow, we'll be back where we started .
▪
And if you decide that they are not, then you are back where you started .
▪
So my client and I are back where we started .
▪
To a large extent we are back where we started .
be flat on your back
▪
Arthur was flat on his back under the car.
▪
I've been flat on my back with the flu all week.
▪
Babs said it was all very well but had he forgotten their leading man was flat on his back in Sefton General?
▪
What else would he need if he were going to be flat on his back or stomach?
be glad/pleased etc to see the back of sb/sth
be thrown back on sth
▪
For first time in his life, he was being thrown back on the his own resources.
▪
He was about to be thrown back on the bloody rubbish heap, or worse.
▪
The result is that they are thrown back on their own individual and collective resources.
be transported back to/into sth
▪
He had only to pick one of them up to be transported back to the time and place of its acquisition.
▪
Years later, at a sound, sight or scent, you can be transported back to that place.
be/get back on your feet
▪
But we are reliably informed that Angus will be back on his feet and more importantly that seat tomorrow.
▪
He got back on his feet , and they all made another parade around the stage.
▪
In those early years, Macey helped Dole literally get back on his feet .
▪
It was an inexpensive, safe, stable environment for families while they got back on their feet .
▪
Never got back on her feet again, really.
▪
The Mirror Group would soon be back on its feet .
▪
We can get back on our feet .
bite sth ↔ back
blink back/away tears
▪
I noticed that his hands were trembling slightly, and he seemed to be blinking back tears.
▪
She needed to blink away tears.
▪
Touching the welt, Howard tried to blink back tears before going inside.
break the back of sth
▪
A combination of ground and air action broke the back of the rebellion.
▪
His two interceptions Sunday broke the back of the Pittsburgh Steelers as Dallas won the duel in the desert, 27-17.
▪
In Czechoslovakia last March Martin Keown nearly broke the back of the net with a long-range effort.
▪
It would have been nice for him to wind things up by breaking the back of Britain's opposition to integration.
▪
Pouring over its latest simulation runs, Sun is confident it has broken the back of the technical problem.
▪
Their thunderous charges have broken the back of many an invading army.
bring sb back to sth
▪
Food brought me back to the human face.
▪
He had felt ashamed the first time he put it on: it brought him back to his ugliness.
▪
Polishing with a soft cloth will bring the surface back to life.
▪
She brings the papers back to her office and shuts the door.
▪
This brings us back to the expressive order.
▪
We must bring that cup back to Oxfordshire.
▪
Which brings us back to red wine.
▪
Which brings us back to why this period is one of some urgency.
bring sb ↔ back
bring sth ↔ back
bring sth ↔ back
bring sth ↔ back
call (sb) back
can do sth with one hand (tied) behind your back
cast your mind back
▪
Cast you mind back a few weeks to the Athletics Championship in Armagh.
▪
He frowned, casting his mind back over the conversation they had held.
▪
Henry cast his mind back to the fateful evening.
▪
Lisa, if you cast your mind back, I think you'll recall that it was your idea.
▪
Again, more in control of matters, he cast his mind back.
▪
He cast his mind back to his homecoming earlier that evening.
▪
He racked his brains, he cast his mind back.
▪
I cast my mind back to our excited departure from Gatwick airport.
▪
Let us cast our minds back to the referendum.
come back/down to earth (with a bump)
▪
Adai can come back to Earth after Gog is dead - after I am dead, perhaps.
▪
AIr travellers came down to earth with a bump yesterday when they joined in some charity aerobics.
▪
In Karuzi you quickly come down to earth .
▪
Maybe, but the once pricey products that use this satellite technology have come down to earth .
▪
Peter Lilley came down to earth .
▪
They recently have come down to Earth .
cut sth ↔ back
fight sth ↔ back
front/rear/back wheels
get in through the back door
get sb back
get sth ↔ back
get your own back (on sb)
▪
But you can get your own back.
▪
By launching the new forum Mr Heseltine is getting his own back on the now weakened Mr Lamont.
▪
I've gotta get my own back.
▪
I hope you haven't gone and done anything silly to it just to get your own back for me going away.
▪
The only way Scott could get his own back was by replacing my voice during the post-production.
▪
Tupac stoked the feud, claiming to have slept with Biggie Smalls's wife, Smalls threatened to get his own back.
▪
Was that a way of getting his own back?
▪
Women get their own back by borrowing their man's razor.
go to hell and back
have eyes in the back of your head
▪
When you're looking after a two year old, you need to have eyes in the back of your head.
▪
You need to have eyes in the back of your head to be a teacher.
hold (sb) back
▪
His wife had to hold him back.
▪
I had to eat with one hand and hold the hair back with the other-it was so fiddly.
▪
No walls, no fences, nothing to hold him back.
▪
Suddenly she holds some back as if still determined to drive the hardest possible bargain.
▪
That wildfire feeling might have got a hold a month back, but it would not be allowed to do so again.
▪
The whistle postponed it, held it back until announcing the morning shift at six.
hold sb/sth ↔ back
▪
I had to eat with one hand and hold the hair back with the other-it was so fiddly.
▪
Its plush vegetation crowded the restraining fence that had been made strong, damned near impregnable, to hold it back.
▪
No walls, no fences, nothing to hold him back.
▪
Suddenly she holds some back as if still determined to drive the hardest possible bargain.
▪
That wildfire feeling might have got a hold a month back, but it would not be allowed to do so again.
▪
The whistle postponed it, held it back until announcing the morning shift at six.
hold sb/sth ↔ back
▪
His wife had to hold him back.
▪
I had to eat with one hand and hold the hair back with the other-it was so fiddly.
▪
Its plush vegetation crowded the restraining fence that had been made strong, damned near impregnable, to hold it back.
▪
No walls, no fences, nothing to hold him back.
▪
Suddenly she holds some back as if still determined to drive the hardest possible bargain.
▪
That wildfire feeling might have got a hold a month back, but it would not be allowed to do so again.
▪
The whistle postponed it, held it back until announcing the morning shift at six.
hold sth ↔ back
▪
His wife had to hold him back.
▪
I had to eat with one hand and hold the hair back with the other-it was so fiddly.
▪
Its plush vegetation crowded the restraining fence that had been made strong, damned near impregnable, to hold it back.
▪
No walls, no fences, nothing to hold him back.
▪
Suddenly she holds some back as if still determined to drive the hardest possible bargain.
▪
That wildfire feeling might have got a hold a month back, but it would not be allowed to do so again.
hold sth ↔ back
▪
His wife had to hold him back.
▪
Its plush vegetation crowded the restraining fence that had been made strong, damned near impregnable, to hold it back.
▪
Suddenly she holds some back as if still determined to drive the hardest possible bargain.
▪
That wildfire feeling might have got a hold a month back, but it would not be allowed to do so again.
▪
The whistle postponed it, held it back until announcing the morning shift at six.
it fell off the back of a lorry
keep sb ↔ back
keep sth ↔ back
keep sth ↔ back
keep sth ↔ back
knock sb back
knock sb back sth
knock sth ↔ back
lie back and think of England
like water off a duck's back
my head/back etc is killing me
never look back
▪
After Berg left baseball in 1978, he never looked back.
▪
After this he would never look back.
▪
And it was a strange feeling for Lois when she saw Paul do just that and never look back.
▪
He grabbed the points race lead for good in late April and virtually never looked back.
▪
Her studies were interrupted by the opportunity to go into local politics, from which she has never looked back.
▪
Mandy Rice-Davies meant good times, and never looking back.
▪
Once he learned to ride his gains and cut his losses, he never looked back.
▪
She never looked back to see what was chasing her, just woke in a cramped sweat, breathless and in tears.
▪
Today their dreams have come true partially because they burned their bridges and never looked back.
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.
pull sth ↔ back
put a clock/watch back
put sb/sth ↔ back
put sth ↔ back
put sth ↔ back
put the clock(s) back/forward
▪
Anyway, even if one wanted to, one couldn't put the clock back to an earlier age.
▪
I can't put the clock back.
▪
They were therefore accused of putting the clock back and bringing the best hope of Christendom to an impasse.
put the roses back in sb's cheeks
put your back out
put/leave sth on the back burner
put/turn the clock back
▪
If I could turn the clock back, I don't think I'd study law again.
▪
It would be nice to put the clock back to the years when Mum and Dad were still alive.
▪
He thinks you can turn the clock back.
▪
It was almost like turning the clock back a couple of centuries.
▪
Not unless they fell into Morton's hands. Turn the clock back.
▪
Or not lie, maybe. Turn the clock back.
▪
The most important thing now is not to turn the clock back.
▪
This great divide can not be bridged by turning the clock back.
▪
We can not turn the clock back.
▪
What is past is past and you can not turn the clock back.
rick your back/neck
ride on sb's shoulders/back
▪
Better than that was riding on his back while he went down on hands and knees and neighed like a horse.
▪
Dostoevsky wanted to stifle the thought that he was riding on the back of Nechacv's perverse glamour.
▪
Just by riding on your shoulders, Newt.
▪
Oblivious to the emotion riding on their backs, Aureole and Pinza came to Epsom with excellent credentials.
▪
Or you can ride on my back, if you prefer.
▪
People on welfare are not taking a ride on the backs of other people.
▪
Power can not ride on an upright back.
rise/come back/return from the dead
▪
A few weeks later Patrick Ashby came back from the dead and went home to inherit the family house and fortune.
▪
Friends don't come back from the dead , Leila thought, rampaging through the corridor from the canteen.
▪
The single engine airplane business came back from the dead after the General Aviation Revitalization Act made it harder to sue.
▪
When Cardiff had come back from the dead , he had shrunk away back down the hessian-screen corridor towards Rohmer.
roll back the years
▪
But he rolled back the years wearing his old jockeys' uniform in the Radcliffe Selling Stakes at Nottingham.
set sb/sth ↔ back
slap sb on the back
▪
Forbes slapped me on the back.
▪
He rushed over and slapped me on the back as I lifted a highball to my lips.
▪
I go to slap her on the back but she waves my arm away impatiently.
▪
In those days it was considered bad form even to slap you on the back.
▪
Jack said, and he slapped Streeter on the back of the head with his gun hand.
▪
She slapped him on the back.
▪
She intended to slap Elisabeth on the back, but she was too late.
stab in the back
▪
I was stabbed in the back because I don't have those problems with Steve.
▪
It's so many stabs in the back ... It's the whole system which is tucking us up.
▪
MacQuillan had been stabbed in the back, there were no palm or fingerprints on the weapon.
▪
Nationalists supported the Wilson/Callaghan governments for years, only to be stabbed in the back in the end.
stab sb in the back
▪
He seems friendly, but he wouldn't hesitate to stab you in the back if he thought it would help him get your job.
▪
Thatcher was stabbed in the back by her former friends and colleagues in the Conservative Party.
▪
I see, you criticize my appearance, and then you stab me in the back!
▪
Some one reached through an open window and stabbed Bastidas in the back.
▪
Why stab Manchester in the back for helping to create a bigger northern network of clubs, raves and fashion outlets?
take a back seat
▪
Women have often been forced to take a back seat in society.
▪
And very generally, the interests of lenders in New York take a back seat to the interests of the corporate borrowers.
▪
But when they were introduced, everything upstairs had to take a back seat.
▪
He notes, however, that economic considerations are taking a back seat to budget negotiations.
▪
If you can't agree to disagree, then take a back seat and let others have their way on this occasion.
▪
It was also a year when investment bankers took a back seat.
▪
Many feel reluctant to take a back seat and allow their children to enjoy the special attractiveness of the teens and twenties.
▪
Mr Peters has now taken a back seat.
▪
That her family had taken a back seat in her life.
take a back seat (to sb/sth)
▪
Quality will have to take a back seat to price when we buy the new furniture.
▪
And very generally, the interests of lenders in New York take a back seat to the interests of the corporate borrowers.
▪
As the race drew closer it was time for Paul to take a back seat .
▪
But when they were introduced, everything upstairs had to take a back seat .
▪
Golf Faldo forced to take a back seat to Walker Cup team.
▪
He notes, however, that economic considerations are taking a back seat to budget negotiations.
▪
It was also a year when investment bankers took a back seat .
▪
Long-term planning took a back seat in the deliberations of the senior engineers whose efforts were principally devoted to overcoming short-term problems.
▪
Turning the original classic topsy-turvy, Stoppard makes Hamlet himself take a back seat and elevates two minor characters to star status.
take sth ↔ back
take sth ↔ back
the clocks go back/forward
▪
I, like many other riders, am eagerly awaiting the clocks going forward.
▪
Police say they had to enforce the law after 1am when the clocks went forward an hour.
▪
When the clocks go back in late October it will be dark by five o'clock in the afternoon.
the small of your back
▪
A hot water bottle in the small of your back should help.
▪
As the skaters skated, they sometimes tucked one arm into the small of their backs.
▪
But then he was sandwiched between the door and the floor level, concrete lip digging into the small of his back.
▪
Her white sweatshirt is bunched up and tucked in at the small of her back, so her rear is exposed.
▪
I could see the great livid weals of scars running across the small of her back and down her mighty thighs.
▪
I stroke the small of his back.
▪
She moved her hand to the small of his back and propelled him across the porch.
▪
When he stepped forward to use the other hand, something cracked into the small of his back, and he stumbled.
there's no going back
▪
There's no going back, even if I wanted to, which I don't.
▪
Too late you realize that there's no going back.
there's no holding sb (back)
▪
For Casey, there was no holding back when it came to music.
throw sth (back) in sb's face
▪
It was no fun having my own words thrown back at me by my kids.
▪
A lot of their love would be rebuffed or thrown back in their faces.
▪
My love - my name thrown back in my face.
▪
Nobody was throwing anything in their faces.
▪
This would be thrown back in his face later by North Koreaand sooner than anyone guessed.
turn your back (on sb/sth)
▪
He turned his back on Shauna and walked to the window.
▪
He would never turn his back on a fellow veteran.
▪
Many immigrants turn their back on the old ways.
▪
He turned his back abruptly and walked away.
▪
He acknowledged his paternity when he could have easily turned his back on him and told him he was a servant.
▪
I handed him back that hundred dollars and turned my back and took him in.
▪
Kissinger said it was disgraceful that the United States had turned its back on one of her oldest and closest friends.
▪
So in the end I turned my back on it and walked away.
▪
Weaken, turn your back for a moment and it could be lost for good.
▪
Wiltshire's Social Services department has promised not to turn its back on the problem of alcoholics.
watch your back
▪
He may be prime minister for now, but he still needs to watch his back.
▪
Besides which, I needed an ally at the shop, some one to watch my back should things get hairy.
▪
But watch your back when I get out, all right?
▪
But Yeltsin will have to watch his back.
▪
Drug traffickers and guerrillas mix with spies and mercenaries, all cautiously watching their backs.
▪
Enjoy it, but watch your back.
▪
Other agents are watching his back, he says.
▪
She watched his back for a moment.
▪
She noticed that everyone seemed to have drifted a little closer; was talking a little less, watching their backs.
you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
Can you call me back later?
▪
Carol yelled back , "If it's so easy, you come and have a go!''
▪
Do you think Ron and his wife will get back together?
▪
He looked back over his shoulder.
▪
He stepped back and fell.
▪
I'll check back with you sometime next week.
▪
I'll have to get back to you on that.
▪
I left a message, but I haven't heard anything back .
▪
I should be back in time for dinner.
▪
I stepped back to let them pass.
▪
I was making $15 an hour back at the hospital.
▪
I woke up at 4 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep.
▪
If a starfish loses a leg, it grows back .
▪
If Jamie rings, tell him I'll call him back .
▪
It's time I got back to work.
▪
It was a beautiful day, so I decided to walk back to the office.
▪
Michelle looked back at him over her shoulder and smiled.
▪
Play the tape back for me, okay?
▪
She left home in 1995 and hasn't been back since.
▪
That's mine! Give it back !
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
Gradually, the children came trickling back .
▪
He'd tried to study it back in the Store.
▪
He was too wet and cold to think about going back out into the rain.
▪
I lay back like a king lion and let her romp.
▪
It helps when I have the option to go back to defense.
▪
It took me a year and a half to come back .
▪
Some time during the afternoon they decided not to go back but to stay overnight.
▪
Then she turns on her heel, comes back , and demands to know why N J stood her up.
II. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
bad
▪
He had a bad back as well, you know, just like Rich.
▪
The problems-from bad backs to carpal tunnel syndrome to headaches-have made the headlines of every health magazine in the country.
▪
That coming from him who would go sick with a bad back whenever a job tired him.
▪
I have met knitters with bad backs , frozen shoulders, tennis elbows and so on from doing to much knitting at a time.
▪
A bad back sidelined him for six games in 1996 but he has been healthy through most of this year.
▪
He was a thin, thin-faced man and a bad back suited his dignity.
flat
▪
Spurs' humiliation was compounded when Lineker mis-kicked wildly a few feet in front of goal and fell flat on his back .
▪
Even when the economy in the Midwest came back in the late eighties, labor was still flat on its back.
▪
Lie flat on your back and cycle backwards with the legs 30 times.
▪
What else would he need if he were going to be flat on his back or stomach?
▪
Lie flat on your back and bend the knees. 12.
▪
Rosa was sitting on the floor of his flat with her back against his legs.
▪
Lying flat on your back , bend the knees, then raise the legs. 14.
▪
Lie flat on your back and loosen up your hip.
front
▪
Both sides of the body are compared, as well as the balance between front and back of thigh.
▪
During gastrulation the front and back , top and bottom become evident, and the basic body plan is laid down.
▪
The garden or gardens, front and back .
▪
Different sweeps - sideways, front and back , or up and down - each alter different musical attributes.
▪
Each section flies a zig-zag from here to the Front and back .
▪
Finally, a pleasantly-grained veneer of dark ash has been used as a finish on the front and back of the headstock.
▪
The two front seat backs tilt forward and make life easier for people climbing into the rear.
▪
Straight on, either front or back , the human being tends to look somewhat banal.
■ NOUN
way
▪
On the way back he picked up two lost Zeros who followed him back.
▪
Following instructions, I seasoned with so much sodium that my face all the way back beyond my ears puckered up.
▪
Worcester's motto is the faithful city because we were involved in certain civil wars way back .
▪
Then the car swung all the way back , full circle, the lanes of the freeway streaking under me.
▪
I did so and I was the one who bought the half-bottle of brandy at the off-licence on the way back .
▪
On our way back we called in at the field centre, a converted ex-shunter's cabin.
▪
And they weren't worth transporting all the way back .
▪
It seems that he had a breakdown on the way back and had to walk.
■ VERB
arch
▪
She arched her back to aid him.
▪
But at that time, biologists also saw sick, disoriented manatees acting strangely by curling their lips and arching their backs .
▪
The wetness of his tongue as it slipped over them made Kate arch her back with delight.
▪
Vic arched his back and rolled his shoulders and seemed about to yawn.
▪
With her touch he arched his back and made a whimpering sound.
▪
Slowly arch the back and lift the chest and head upwards and back.
▪
Try not to arch the back during this exercise.
break
▪
Once the land round it was worked, but no one these days would break his back over soil so rocky and barren.
▪
His two interceptions Sunday broke the back of the Pittsburgh Steelers as Dallas won the duel in the desert, 27-17.
▪
Then Halfon broke his back in a construction accident.
▪
But he suffered two fractured vertebrae in his neck and a broken lower back in a crash during practice two weeks ago.
▪
Their thunderous charges have broken the back of many an invading army.
▪
It is going to break my back , both of us know it, and there is no choice.
▪
That was the straw which broke the camel's back and in the following 16 minutes United's game fell apart.
▪
Like the steeplechase where Vronsky breaks his mare's back with reckless riding, you can only wait for the pistol shot.
hit
▪
But yes, I had. Hit in the back .
▪
Police said Stanton was hit on the back of the head with a gun during the ordeal.
▪
The first bullet hit him in the back , severing his spine.
▪
Two fingers hit the back of the opposite hand amidst ribald guffaws.
▪
In Bath last Wednesday, one hit him on the back of the neck and a woman was arrested.
▪
She said she hit the back of her hand on the platen and then everything went black.
▪
Could there have been a fight causing him to fall and hit the back of his head on something?
▪
The spent casings were hitting the back of me, and the concussion was pushing my head down.
lie
▪
I lay on my back with my legs in the air and pushed.
▪
But Tho was lying on his back in the water, clutching his rifle, his arms wide-flung.
▪
As a girl she had lain always on her back , proud, determined.
▪
So he lay on his back next to her, his head on the other pillow.
▪
Now, you get down from the chair and lie on your back on the bench.
▪
They lie on their backs in a trailer, a big one and a small one, looking more asleep than dead.
▪
A pair of trousers lay across the back of a chair and his pyjamas were stuffed untidily beneath the pillow.
▪
I lay on my back and stared at it.
pat
▪
The manager patted Stuart on the back .
▪
He patted backs and bought drinks, working the room in political style.
▪
This time I patted myself on the back all the way to the hotel.
▪
After his address, Houston worked the crowd, shaking hands, patting backs .
▪
I patted him on the back as hard as I dared but he still couldn't breathe.
▪
Every person on the street will pat you on the back .
▪
How dare she wave her bloody job at us like she wanted us to pat her on the back for it?
▪
Cliff Nudelman pats me on the back .
ride
▪
Better than that was riding on his back while he went down on hands and knees and neighed like a horse.
▪
Or you can ride on my back , if you prefer.
▪
The story told of a Canelos-owned truck that overturned on a highway, killing 21 farmworkers who were riding in the back .
▪
Branch manager Richard Fairhurst took a back seat for the day, as he rode along on the back of a tandem.
▪
Power can not ride on an upright back .
▪
The devil riding my back dug his hard pointy heels into my flesh, but I stayed my ground.
▪
Dostoevsky wanted to stifle the thought that he was riding on the back of Nechacv's perverse glamour.
roll
▪
Shannon rolled on to her back , staring through tear-glazed eyes at the ceiling.
▪
Then he purred and stretched; he rolled over on his back .
▪
Donna rolled on to her back , her eyes half-closed, her limbs numb.
▪
The cat rolls on to its back and pushes itself farther into the light.
▪
On the opposite bank, Luke rolled off her back and lay on the grass.
▪
Danskin rolled over on his back , his belly heaving.
▪
I rolled on my back , stuck my legs in the air and laughed.
▪
Lucky had rolled on his back while he waited.
sit
▪
He and Helga sat at the back of the class, groping each other up in a flurry of smirks and giggles.
▪
I sat in the back of her bicycle.
▪
It is comforting to hear your team-mates shouting their encouragement during a contest. Sit with your back straight and head erect.
▪
Unlike the other candidates, he is always ready to sit in the back of his bus shooting the breeze with reporters.
▪
But Lynnette D'Armande turned her chair round and sat with her back to Broadway.
▪
The red enameled kettle always sits on the back of the stove.
slap
▪
She slapped him on the back .
▪
He slapped my back and said, Maybe so.
▪
Forbes slapped me on the back .
▪
He slapped my back , slapped my butt, then kneaded my flesh.
▪
She intended to slap Elisabeth on the back , but she was too late.
▪
Jack said, and he slapped Streeter on the back of the head with his gun hand.
▪
His father managed to clear the obstruction by slapping Christopher on his back 7 times.
▪
He rushed over and slapped me on the back as I lifted a highball to my lips.
stand
▪
There was nobody else except two strangers who were standing at the back of the church.
▪
He entered the room where the wheelchair stood folded at the back of the tiny cedar closet.
▪
I was standing with my back to the aviary, my jacket almost touching the wire mesh, still puzzled.
▪
McMurphy whoops and drags me standing , pounding my back .
▪
Then she closed the door again and stood with her back against it.
▪
Go to a wall and stand straight with your back against it.
▪
Dexter stood at the back of the conference suite behind the video cameras and serried ranks of reporters.
▪
Two young men have walked in late and are standing around the back of the classroom, halfheartedly looking for seats.
tie
▪
Dangling from it were two thin cords to be tied at the back .
▪
It lifted the accused by a rope around his wrists, which were tied behind his back .
▪
Of 23 bodies she saw, all had been shot in the head with their hands tied behind their backs .
▪
His hands were tied behind his back and he was roped to Kate, whose hands were also bound.
▪
Then I began to realize that my hands were tied behind my back and my legs were also secured to something.
▪
Their hands were tied behind their backs and they were gagged.
▪
They were astride a single horse, tied back to back, being led along a skyline by the sheriff's posse.
turn
▪
Sir Henry was able to scorn convention because he had turned his back on the world.
▪
Alone on the streets, Ezra turned his back .
▪
Why not simply take the hint and turn his back on the village once and for all?
▪
He turned his back to him and opening up his store.
▪
So in the end I turned my back on it and walked away.
▪
If Miguel were excommunicated, Careta would probably turn his back on him if he saw him on the street.
▪
Disillusioned with the ruthlessly ambitious woman he had married, Richard had long ago turned his back on her.
▪
Hicks moved closer to the stove, partly turning his back on her.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
(go) back to the drawing board
▪
Voters rejected the bridge expansion plan, so it's back to the drawing board for city engineers.
▪
For San Jose, it was back to the drawing board.
▪
So Superman, once the most recognized and revered hero in comic books, was sent back to the drawing board.
▪
Sometimes, you also have to go back to the drawing board.
▪
The Cta episode has therefore sent the whole idea of direct dating of petroglyphs back to the drawing board.
▪
They must go back to the drawing board and review the whole of youth training.
▪
They want to see the road plan sent back to the drawing board.
▪
You also could go back to the drawing board with that budget, trying to reduce costs.
▪
You have to discard the propeller engine and go back to the drawing board.
I'll be right with you/right there/right back
a monkey on your back
a pat on the back
▪
I think you all deserve a pat on the back for your hard work.
▪
I think we should give Fairclough a pat on the back for his performances in the last few games.
▪
It amounts to a pat on the back.
▪
Just a smile or a pat on the back may keep a student working.
▪
No one gets past him without an encouraging word, a pat on the back, a smile.
▪
Now congratulate your loved one and give yourself a pat on the back as well for your own agility around the course.
▪
That was intended to be a pat on the back - as one of several others - for me.
▪
The tournament-sponsoring Thunderbirds deserve a pat on the back.
▪
Try starting with a pat on the back to soften the blow of criticism.
a slap on the back
▪
a congratulatory slap on the back
back in the day
back on the rails
▪
He was back on the rails , and moving again.
▪
It seems that matters have fallen behind schedule and need to be put back on the rails .
back seat driver
back to basics
▪
A constructive response to the Howie Report would be more pertinent than saloon-bar simplicities about getting back to basics .
▪
His party claims to be the party of law and order, the family, back to basics .
▪
In other words, forget your fancy gender studies: the neo-Darwinists were marching us back to basics .
▪
Last Wednesday was all about back to basics and glimpses of optimism.
▪
Now, however, it seems that the route to success may once again involve going back to basics .
▪
This month's personal finance column therefore takes a back to basics look at expatriate tax.
▪
Try to counter nervousness by getting right back to basics .
back to nature
▪
He longed to explore, to take the wild adventure of going completely back to nature .
▪
Such language glances back to nature worship.
▪
When people talk of going back to nature , do they really know what they are asking for?
bad heart/leg/back etc
▪
A sweetheart, this little lady, not bad legs either.
▪
For Joshua, at sixty-two, and suffering from a bad leg, distances had begun to take on an extraordinary significance.
▪
He had a bad back as well, you know, just like Rich.
▪
He had a bad leg and they kept on at him to hurry up.
▪
Medical deferment for a very bad heart.
▪
That coming from him who would go sick with a bad back whenever a job tired him.
▪
The problems-from bad backs to carpal tunnel syndrome to headaches-have made the headlines of every health magazine in the country.
be back where you started
▪
If we lose tomorrow, we'll be back where we started .
▪
And if you decide that they are not, then you are back where you started .
▪
So my client and I are back where we started .
▪
To a large extent we are back where we started .
be flat on your back
▪
Arthur was flat on his back under the car.
▪
I've been flat on my back with the flu all week.
▪
Babs said it was all very well but had he forgotten their leading man was flat on his back in Sefton General?
▪
What else would he need if he were going to be flat on his back or stomach?
be glad/pleased etc to see the back of sb/sth
be thrown back on sth
▪
For first time in his life, he was being thrown back on the his own resources.
▪
He was about to be thrown back on the bloody rubbish heap, or worse.
▪
The result is that they are thrown back on their own individual and collective resources.
be transported back to/into sth
▪
He had only to pick one of them up to be transported back to the time and place of its acquisition.
▪
Years later, at a sound, sight or scent, you can be transported back to that place.
be/get back on your feet
▪
But we are reliably informed that Angus will be back on his feet and more importantly that seat tomorrow.
▪
He got back on his feet , and they all made another parade around the stage.
▪
In those early years, Macey helped Dole literally get back on his feet .
▪
It was an inexpensive, safe, stable environment for families while they got back on their feet .
▪
Never got back on her feet again, really.
▪
The Mirror Group would soon be back on its feet .
▪
We can get back on our feet .
bite sth ↔ back
blink back/away tears
▪
I noticed that his hands were trembling slightly, and he seemed to be blinking back tears.
▪
She needed to blink away tears.
▪
Touching the welt, Howard tried to blink back tears before going inside.
break the back of sth
▪
A combination of ground and air action broke the back of the rebellion.
▪
His two interceptions Sunday broke the back of the Pittsburgh Steelers as Dallas won the duel in the desert, 27-17.
▪
In Czechoslovakia last March Martin Keown nearly broke the back of the net with a long-range effort.
▪
It would have been nice for him to wind things up by breaking the back of Britain's opposition to integration.
▪
Pouring over its latest simulation runs, Sun is confident it has broken the back of the technical problem.
▪
Their thunderous charges have broken the back of many an invading army.
bring sb back to sth
▪
Food brought me back to the human face.
▪
He had felt ashamed the first time he put it on: it brought him back to his ugliness.
▪
Polishing with a soft cloth will bring the surface back to life.
▪
She brings the papers back to her office and shuts the door.
▪
This brings us back to the expressive order.
▪
We must bring that cup back to Oxfordshire.
▪
Which brings us back to red wine.
▪
Which brings us back to why this period is one of some urgency.
bring sb ↔ back
bring sth ↔ back
bring sth ↔ back
bring sth ↔ back
call (sb) back
can do sth with one hand (tied) behind your back
cast your mind back
▪
Cast you mind back a few weeks to the Athletics Championship in Armagh.
▪
He frowned, casting his mind back over the conversation they had held.
▪
Henry cast his mind back to the fateful evening.
▪
Lisa, if you cast your mind back, I think you'll recall that it was your idea.
▪
Again, more in control of matters, he cast his mind back.
▪
He cast his mind back to his homecoming earlier that evening.
▪
He racked his brains, he cast his mind back.
▪
I cast my mind back to our excited departure from Gatwick airport.
▪
Let us cast our minds back to the referendum.
come back/down to earth (with a bump)
▪
Adai can come back to Earth after Gog is dead - after I am dead, perhaps.
▪
AIr travellers came down to earth with a bump yesterday when they joined in some charity aerobics.
▪
In Karuzi you quickly come down to earth .
▪
Maybe, but the once pricey products that use this satellite technology have come down to earth .
▪
Peter Lilley came down to earth .
▪
They recently have come down to Earth .
cut sth ↔ back
fight sth ↔ back
front/rear/back wheels
get in through the back door
get sb back
get sth ↔ back
get your own back (on sb)
▪
But you can get your own back.
▪
By launching the new forum Mr Heseltine is getting his own back on the now weakened Mr Lamont.
▪
I've gotta get my own back.
▪
I hope you haven't gone and done anything silly to it just to get your own back for me going away.
▪
The only way Scott could get his own back was by replacing my voice during the post-production.
▪
Tupac stoked the feud, claiming to have slept with Biggie Smalls's wife, Smalls threatened to get his own back.
▪
Was that a way of getting his own back?
▪
Women get their own back by borrowing their man's razor.
go to hell and back
have eyes in the back of your head
▪
When you're looking after a two year old, you need to have eyes in the back of your head.
▪
You need to have eyes in the back of your head to be a teacher.
hold (sb) back
▪
His wife had to hold him back.
▪
I had to eat with one hand and hold the hair back with the other-it was so fiddly.
▪
No walls, no fences, nothing to hold him back.
▪
Suddenly she holds some back as if still determined to drive the hardest possible bargain.
▪
That wildfire feeling might have got a hold a month back, but it would not be allowed to do so again.
▪
The whistle postponed it, held it back until announcing the morning shift at six.
hold sb/sth ↔ back
▪
I had to eat with one hand and hold the hair back with the other-it was so fiddly.
▪
Its plush vegetation crowded the restraining fence that had been made strong, damned near impregnable, to hold it back.
▪
No walls, no fences, nothing to hold him back.
▪
Suddenly she holds some back as if still determined to drive the hardest possible bargain.
▪
That wildfire feeling might have got a hold a month back, but it would not be allowed to do so again.
▪
The whistle postponed it, held it back until announcing the morning shift at six.
hold sb/sth ↔ back
▪
His wife had to hold him back.
▪
I had to eat with one hand and hold the hair back with the other-it was so fiddly.
▪
Its plush vegetation crowded the restraining fence that had been made strong, damned near impregnable, to hold it back.
▪
No walls, no fences, nothing to hold him back.
▪
Suddenly she holds some back as if still determined to drive the hardest possible bargain.
▪
That wildfire feeling might have got a hold a month back, but it would not be allowed to do so again.
▪
The whistle postponed it, held it back until announcing the morning shift at six.
hold sth ↔ back
▪
His wife had to hold him back.
▪
I had to eat with one hand and hold the hair back with the other-it was so fiddly.
▪
Its plush vegetation crowded the restraining fence that had been made strong, damned near impregnable, to hold it back.
▪
No walls, no fences, nothing to hold him back.
▪
Suddenly she holds some back as if still determined to drive the hardest possible bargain.
▪
That wildfire feeling might have got a hold a month back, but it would not be allowed to do so again.
hold sth ↔ back
▪
His wife had to hold him back.
▪
Its plush vegetation crowded the restraining fence that had been made strong, damned near impregnable, to hold it back.
▪
Suddenly she holds some back as if still determined to drive the hardest possible bargain.
▪
That wildfire feeling might have got a hold a month back, but it would not be allowed to do so again.
▪
The whistle postponed it, held it back until announcing the morning shift at six.
it fell off the back of a lorry
keep sb ↔ back
keep sth ↔ back
keep sth ↔ back
keep sth ↔ back
knock sb back
knock sb back sth
knock sth ↔ back
lie back and think of England
like water off a duck's back
my head/back etc is killing me
never look back
▪
After Berg left baseball in 1978, he never looked back.
▪
After this he would never look back.
▪
And it was a strange feeling for Lois when she saw Paul do just that and never look back.
▪
He grabbed the points race lead for good in late April and virtually never looked back.
▪
Her studies were interrupted by the opportunity to go into local politics, from which she has never looked back.
▪
Mandy Rice-Davies meant good times, and never looking back.
▪
Once he learned to ride his gains and cut his losses, he never looked back.
▪
She never looked back to see what was chasing her, just woke in a cramped sweat, breathless and in tears.
▪
Today their dreams have come true partially because they burned their bridges and never looked back.
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.
pull sth ↔ back
put a clock/watch back
put sb/sth ↔ back
put sth ↔ back
put sth ↔ back
put the clock(s) back/forward
▪
Anyway, even if one wanted to, one couldn't put the clock back to an earlier age.
▪
I can't put the clock back.
▪
They were therefore accused of putting the clock back and bringing the best hope of Christendom to an impasse.
put the roses back in sb's cheeks
put your back out
put/leave sth on the back burner
put/turn the clock back
▪
If I could turn the clock back, I don't think I'd study law again.
▪
It would be nice to put the clock back to the years when Mum and Dad were still alive.
▪
He thinks you can turn the clock back.
▪
It was almost like turning the clock back a couple of centuries.
▪
Not unless they fell into Morton's hands. Turn the clock back.
▪
Or not lie, maybe. Turn the clock back.
▪
The most important thing now is not to turn the clock back.
▪
This great divide can not be bridged by turning the clock back.
▪
We can not turn the clock back.
▪
What is past is past and you can not turn the clock back.
rick your back/neck
ride on sb's shoulders/back
▪
Better than that was riding on his back while he went down on hands and knees and neighed like a horse.
▪
Dostoevsky wanted to stifle the thought that he was riding on the back of Nechacv's perverse glamour.
▪
Just by riding on your shoulders, Newt.
▪
Oblivious to the emotion riding on their backs, Aureole and Pinza came to Epsom with excellent credentials.
▪
Or you can ride on my back, if you prefer.
▪
People on welfare are not taking a ride on the backs of other people.
▪
Power can not ride on an upright back.
rise/come back/return from the dead
▪
A few weeks later Patrick Ashby came back from the dead and went home to inherit the family house and fortune.
▪
Friends don't come back from the dead , Leila thought, rampaging through the corridor from the canteen.
▪
The single engine airplane business came back from the dead after the General Aviation Revitalization Act made it harder to sue.
▪
When Cardiff had come back from the dead , he had shrunk away back down the hessian-screen corridor towards Rohmer.
roll back the years
▪
But he rolled back the years wearing his old jockeys' uniform in the Radcliffe Selling Stakes at Nottingham.
set sb/sth ↔ back
slap sb on the back
▪
Forbes slapped me on the back.
▪
He rushed over and slapped me on the back as I lifted a highball to my lips.
▪
I go to slap her on the back but she waves my arm away impatiently.
▪
In those days it was considered bad form even to slap you on the back.
▪
Jack said, and he slapped Streeter on the back of the head with his gun hand.
▪
She slapped him on the back.
▪
She intended to slap Elisabeth on the back, but she was too late.
stab in the back
▪
I was stabbed in the back because I don't have those problems with Steve.
▪
It's so many stabs in the back ... It's the whole system which is tucking us up.
▪
MacQuillan had been stabbed in the back, there were no palm or fingerprints on the weapon.
▪
Nationalists supported the Wilson/Callaghan governments for years, only to be stabbed in the back in the end.
stab sb in the back
▪
He seems friendly, but he wouldn't hesitate to stab you in the back if he thought it would help him get your job.
▪
Thatcher was stabbed in the back by her former friends and colleagues in the Conservative Party.
▪
I see, you criticize my appearance, and then you stab me in the back!
▪
Some one reached through an open window and stabbed Bastidas in the back.
▪
Why stab Manchester in the back for helping to create a bigger northern network of clubs, raves and fashion outlets?
take a back seat
▪
Women have often been forced to take a back seat in society.
▪
And very generally, the interests of lenders in New York take a back seat to the interests of the corporate borrowers.
▪
But when they were introduced, everything upstairs had to take a back seat.
▪
He notes, however, that economic considerations are taking a back seat to budget negotiations.
▪
If you can't agree to disagree, then take a back seat and let others have their way on this occasion.
▪
It was also a year when investment bankers took a back seat.
▪
Many feel reluctant to take a back seat and allow their children to enjoy the special attractiveness of the teens and twenties.
▪
Mr Peters has now taken a back seat.
▪
That her family had taken a back seat in her life.
take a back seat (to sb/sth)
▪
Quality will have to take a back seat to price when we buy the new furniture.
▪
And very generally, the interests of lenders in New York take a back seat to the interests of the corporate borrowers.
▪
As the race drew closer it was time for Paul to take a back seat .
▪
But when they were introduced, everything upstairs had to take a back seat .
▪
Golf Faldo forced to take a back seat to Walker Cup team.
▪
He notes, however, that economic considerations are taking a back seat to budget negotiations.
▪
It was also a year when investment bankers took a back seat .
▪
Long-term planning took a back seat in the deliberations of the senior engineers whose efforts were principally devoted to overcoming short-term problems.
▪
Turning the original classic topsy-turvy, Stoppard makes Hamlet himself take a back seat and elevates two minor characters to star status.
take sth ↔ back
take sth ↔ back
the clocks go back/forward
▪
I, like many other riders, am eagerly awaiting the clocks going forward.
▪
Police say they had to enforce the law after 1am when the clocks went forward an hour.
▪
When the clocks go back in late October it will be dark by five o'clock in the afternoon.
the small of your back
▪
A hot water bottle in the small of your back should help.
▪
As the skaters skated, they sometimes tucked one arm into the small of their backs.
▪
But then he was sandwiched between the door and the floor level, concrete lip digging into the small of his back.
▪
Her white sweatshirt is bunched up and tucked in at the small of her back, so her rear is exposed.
▪
I could see the great livid weals of scars running across the small of her back and down her mighty thighs.
▪
I stroke the small of his back.
▪
She moved her hand to the small of his back and propelled him across the porch.
▪
When he stepped forward to use the other hand, something cracked into the small of his back, and he stumbled.
there's no going back
▪
There's no going back, even if I wanted to, which I don't.
▪
Too late you realize that there's no going back.
there's no holding sb (back)
▪
For Casey, there was no holding back when it came to music.
throw sth (back) in sb's face
▪
It was no fun having my own words thrown back at me by my kids.
▪
A lot of their love would be rebuffed or thrown back in their faces.
▪
My love - my name thrown back in my face.
▪
Nobody was throwing anything in their faces.
▪
This would be thrown back in his face later by North Koreaand sooner than anyone guessed.
turn your back (on sb/sth)
▪
He turned his back on Shauna and walked to the window.
▪
He would never turn his back on a fellow veteran.
▪
Many immigrants turn their back on the old ways.
▪
He turned his back abruptly and walked away.
▪
He acknowledged his paternity when he could have easily turned his back on him and told him he was a servant.
▪
I handed him back that hundred dollars and turned my back and took him in.
▪
Kissinger said it was disgraceful that the United States had turned its back on one of her oldest and closest friends.
▪
So in the end I turned my back on it and walked away.
▪
Weaken, turn your back for a moment and it could be lost for good.
▪
Wiltshire's Social Services department has promised not to turn its back on the problem of alcoholics.
watch your back
▪
He may be prime minister for now, but he still needs to watch his back.
▪
Besides which, I needed an ally at the shop, some one to watch my back should things get hairy.
▪
But watch your back when I get out, all right?
▪
But Yeltsin will have to watch his back.
▪
Drug traffickers and guerrillas mix with spies and mercenaries, all cautiously watching their backs.
▪
Enjoy it, but watch your back.
▪
Other agents are watching his back, he says.
▪
She watched his back for a moment.
▪
She noticed that everyone seemed to have drifted a little closer; was talking a little less, watching their backs.
you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
Megan has some trouble with her back .
▪
She had her hands tied behind her back .
▪
The cat wanted her back rubbed.
▪
What's written on the back ?
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
And lately, our defensive backs have responded with interceptions.
▪
Cashmere sports jackets hung on the back of their chairs, insurance against an encounter with air-conditioning.
▪
Martha came forward to help, and Miss Mary looked carefully at Colin's thin white back , up and down.
▪
The autopsy report said Woldemariam was shot twice in the back .
▪
The Leader and the thin man were seated on a pile of saddles and saddle-bags with their backs against the wall.
III. verb
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
(go) back to the drawing board
▪
Voters rejected the bridge expansion plan, so it's back to the drawing board for city engineers.
▪
For San Jose, it was back to the drawing board.
▪
So Superman, once the most recognized and revered hero in comic books, was sent back to the drawing board.
▪
Sometimes, you also have to go back to the drawing board.
▪
The Cta episode has therefore sent the whole idea of direct dating of petroglyphs back to the drawing board.
▪
They must go back to the drawing board and review the whole of youth training.
▪
They want to see the road plan sent back to the drawing board.
▪
You also could go back to the drawing board with that budget, trying to reduce costs.
▪
You have to discard the propeller engine and go back to the drawing board.
I'll be right with you/right there/right back
a monkey on your back
a pat on the back
▪
I think you all deserve a pat on the back for your hard work.
▪
I think we should give Fairclough a pat on the back for his performances in the last few games.
▪
It amounts to a pat on the back.
▪
Just a smile or a pat on the back may keep a student working.
▪
No one gets past him without an encouraging word, a pat on the back, a smile.
▪
Now congratulate your loved one and give yourself a pat on the back as well for your own agility around the course.
▪
That was intended to be a pat on the back - as one of several others - for me.
▪
The tournament-sponsoring Thunderbirds deserve a pat on the back.
▪
Try starting with a pat on the back to soften the blow of criticism.
a slap on the back
▪
a congratulatory slap on the back
back in the day
back on the rails
▪
He was back on the rails , and moving again.
▪
It seems that matters have fallen behind schedule and need to be put back on the rails .
back seat driver
back to basics
▪
A constructive response to the Howie Report would be more pertinent than saloon-bar simplicities about getting back to basics .
▪
His party claims to be the party of law and order, the family, back to basics .
▪
In other words, forget your fancy gender studies: the neo-Darwinists were marching us back to basics .
▪
Last Wednesday was all about back to basics and glimpses of optimism.
▪
Now, however, it seems that the route to success may once again involve going back to basics .
▪
This month's personal finance column therefore takes a back to basics look at expatriate tax.
▪
Try to counter nervousness by getting right back to basics .
back to nature
▪
He longed to explore, to take the wild adventure of going completely back to nature .
▪
Such language glances back to nature worship.
▪
When people talk of going back to nature , do they really know what they are asking for?
back-handed compliment
▪
It's a back-handed compliment really, you know.
bad heart/leg/back etc
▪
A sweetheart, this little lady, not bad legs either.
▪
For Joshua, at sixty-two, and suffering from a bad leg, distances had begun to take on an extraordinary significance.
▪
He had a bad back as well, you know, just like Rich.
▪
He had a bad leg and they kept on at him to hurry up.
▪
Medical deferment for a very bad heart.
▪
That coming from him who would go sick with a bad back whenever a job tired him.
▪
The problems-from bad backs to carpal tunnel syndrome to headaches-have made the headlines of every health magazine in the country.
be back in business
▪
After appearing to be in terminal decline the monarchy is back in business .
▪
By the summer of 1992 the dress patrols were back in business .
▪
Last week, Peron was back in business , with a few cosmetic changes.
▪
Male speaker We're setting up in another hangar and hope to be back in business soon.
▪
Nice to see Dave Hill's barber is back in business .
▪
Stop Press: Liverpool is back in business .
▪
The company was back in business .
▪
The Cumberland Tavern - now under new management - is back in business as a rock venue.
be flat on your back
▪
Arthur was flat on his back under the car.
▪
I've been flat on my back with the flu all week.
▪
Babs said it was all very well but had he forgotten their leading man was flat on his back in Sefton General?
▪
What else would he need if he were going to be flat on his back or stomach?
be/get back on your feet
▪
But we are reliably informed that Angus will be back on his feet and more importantly that seat tomorrow.
▪
He got back on his feet , and they all made another parade around the stage.
▪
In those early years, Macey helped Dole literally get back on his feet .
▪
It was an inexpensive, safe, stable environment for families while they got back on their feet .
▪
Never got back on her feet again, really.
▪
The Mirror Group would soon be back on its feet .
▪
We can get back on our feet .
can do sth with one hand (tied) behind your back
come back/down to earth (with a bump)
▪
Adai can come back to Earth after Gog is dead - after I am dead, perhaps.
▪
AIr travellers came down to earth with a bump yesterday when they joined in some charity aerobics.
▪
In Karuzi you quickly come down to earth .
▪
Maybe, but the once pricey products that use this satellite technology have come down to earth .
▪
Peter Lilley came down to earth .
▪
They recently have come down to Earth .
front/rear/back wheels
get in through the back door
get your own back (on sb)
▪
But you can get your own back.
▪
By launching the new forum Mr Heseltine is getting his own back on the now weakened Mr Lamont.
▪
I've gotta get my own back.
▪
I hope you haven't gone and done anything silly to it just to get your own back for me going away.
▪
The only way Scott could get his own back was by replacing my voice during the post-production.
▪
Tupac stoked the feud, claiming to have slept with Biggie Smalls's wife, Smalls threatened to get his own back.
▪
Was that a way of getting his own back?
▪
Women get their own back by borrowing their man's razor.
go to hell and back
have eyes in the back of your head
▪
When you're looking after a two year old, you need to have eyes in the back of your head.
▪
You need to have eyes in the back of your head to be a teacher.
it fell off the back of a lorry
lie back and think of England
like water off a duck's back
put the clock(s) back/forward
▪
Anyway, even if one wanted to, one couldn't put the clock back to an earlier age.
▪
I can't put the clock back.
▪
They were therefore accused of putting the clock back and bringing the best hope of Christendom to an impasse.
put the roses back in sb's cheeks
put/leave sth on the back burner
put/turn the clock back
▪
If I could turn the clock back, I don't think I'd study law again.
▪
It would be nice to put the clock back to the years when Mum and Dad were still alive.
▪
He thinks you can turn the clock back.
▪
It was almost like turning the clock back a couple of centuries.
▪
Not unless they fell into Morton's hands. Turn the clock back.
▪
Or not lie, maybe. Turn the clock back.
▪
The most important thing now is not to turn the clock back.
▪
This great divide can not be bridged by turning the clock back.
▪
We can not turn the clock back.
▪
What is past is past and you can not turn the clock back.
rise/come back/return from the dead
▪
A few weeks later Patrick Ashby came back from the dead and went home to inherit the family house and fortune.
▪
Friends don't come back from the dead , Leila thought, rampaging through the corridor from the canteen.
▪
The single engine airplane business came back from the dead after the General Aviation Revitalization Act made it harder to sue.
▪
When Cardiff had come back from the dead , he had shrunk away back down the hessian-screen corridor towards Rohmer.
stab in the back
▪
I was stabbed in the back because I don't have those problems with Steve.
▪
It's so many stabs in the back ... It's the whole system which is tucking us up.
▪
MacQuillan had been stabbed in the back, there were no palm or fingerprints on the weapon.
▪
Nationalists supported the Wilson/Callaghan governments for years, only to be stabbed in the back in the end.
take a back seat
▪
Women have often been forced to take a back seat in society.
▪
And very generally, the interests of lenders in New York take a back seat to the interests of the corporate borrowers.
▪
But when they were introduced, everything upstairs had to take a back seat.
▪
He notes, however, that economic considerations are taking a back seat to budget negotiations.
▪
If you can't agree to disagree, then take a back seat and let others have their way on this occasion.
▪
It was also a year when investment bankers took a back seat.
▪
Many feel reluctant to take a back seat and allow their children to enjoy the special attractiveness of the teens and twenties.
▪
Mr Peters has now taken a back seat.
▪
That her family had taken a back seat in her life.
take a back seat (to sb/sth)
▪
Quality will have to take a back seat to price when we buy the new furniture.
▪
And very generally, the interests of lenders in New York take a back seat to the interests of the corporate borrowers.
▪
As the race drew closer it was time for Paul to take a back seat .
▪
But when they were introduced, everything upstairs had to take a back seat .
▪
Golf Faldo forced to take a back seat to Walker Cup team.
▪
He notes, however, that economic considerations are taking a back seat to budget negotiations.
▪
It was also a year when investment bankers took a back seat .
▪
Long-term planning took a back seat in the deliberations of the senior engineers whose efforts were principally devoted to overcoming short-term problems.
▪
Turning the original classic topsy-turvy, Stoppard makes Hamlet himself take a back seat and elevates two minor characters to star status.
the clocks go back/forward
▪
I, like many other riders, am eagerly awaiting the clocks going forward.
▪
Police say they had to enforce the law after 1am when the clocks went forward an hour.
▪
When the clocks go back in late October it will be dark by five o'clock in the afternoon.
the small of your back
▪
A hot water bottle in the small of your back should help.
▪
As the skaters skated, they sometimes tucked one arm into the small of their backs.
▪
But then he was sandwiched between the door and the floor level, concrete lip digging into the small of his back.
▪
Her white sweatshirt is bunched up and tucked in at the small of her back, so her rear is exposed.
▪
I could see the great livid weals of scars running across the small of her back and down her mighty thighs.
▪
I stroke the small of his back.
▪
She moved her hand to the small of his back and propelled him across the porch.
▪
When he stepped forward to use the other hand, something cracked into the small of his back, and he stumbled.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
I wouldn't park there -- it's going to be very difficult to back out again.
▪
Morris carefully backed the truck into the shed.
▪
Several major insurance companies have agreed to back the healthcare reforms.
▪
The crime bill is backed by the Democrats.
▪
The plans for a new shopping mall are backed by the city council.
▪
The stage was backed by a light blue curtain.
▪
The three tenors were backed by the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra.
▪
Uncle Barry backed Arsenal to win the FA Cup.
▪
We backed a horse named Travelling Light that finished first at 10-1.
▪
Which team did you back for the Super Bowl?
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
I backed the car into the garage and walked round to the front door of the boarding house.
▪
In the end Krushchev backed down and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
▪
There is no known cure but the illness can be treated - by medication backed by practical and caring support.
IV. adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
alley
▪
Then we took off down the back alleys in case some one saw us and told our parents.
▪
Give me a dark back alley compared with being a pinball in the gallery of the desperate.
▪
We exited into a back alley via the fire door.
▪
Riot police stood guard even in tiny back alleys .
▪
When I woke up I was in some back alley .
▪
When the bars closed, she and her sister drove through back alleys hunting for him.
▪
I found an old coat thrown across a garbage can in a back alley .
▪
But then so am I if I saw a lion wandering around the back alleys of Danang, right?
bedroom
▪
Below the attics was a back bedroom looking out over the flower garden, and so on to the main road beyond.
▪
She waits until we are in the back bedroom .
▪
The police were then called to the house and found two people tied up in a back bedroom .
▪
So we all hid in this one back bedroom , and Leonard was going, Everybody get covered.
▪
Four children, including a 16year-old babysitter, were trapped upstairs watching television in a back bedroom .
▪
She led me not to the sitting room but through to the back bedroom .
▪
Fire crews broke into the back bedroom and pulled out Shona Smith, 16 months, and Gavin Hurley, 8.
burner
▪
It had begun exploding when you lit the back burners , and Mrs Hooper was getting too nervous to touch it.
▪
Issues like desegregation go on the back burner .
▪
Their food was boiling in a pan on the back burner of the gas-stove in the alcove by the pantry door.
▪
The hazardous weather conditions put concerns about budget developments and the economy on the back burner .
▪
That put any promotion aspirations on the back burner .
▪
Their other project, meanwhile, is on the back burner .
▪
So for most of that period, the new perfume project was on the back burner .
catalogue
▪
Five years after they split, they are more influential than ever and their back catalogue is about to be reissued.
copy
▪
You can do this simply by thumbing through back copies of the newspaper and seeing who writes environmental articles.
corner
▪
The climb lies on a wall just above the east descent route in the back corner of the quarry.
▪
Tucked into the back corner of the space is the center's resource library and activity area.
▪
Drab-olive military packages of emergency rations and water are tucked into a back corner of the sphere.
▪
You can further reduce the boxy look of the tank by disguising the inside back corners with decor material.
▪
The great men held the room in their gaze, even the back corner by the windows.
▪
Perhaps Gladys would join the group of Leicester ladies who were fluttering with anticipation in the back corner .
▪
Three days later the Largemouth pair spawned, over a flat slate at the back corner .
cover
▪
Please refer to the back cover of this brochure for more details.
▪
It comes with a fold-out map inside its back cover .
▪
The glossary of terms on the inside back cover provides definitions of reserves categories.
▪
Full details of what promise to be uplifting and enjoyable celebrations are carried on page 4 and the back cover .
▪
A list of symbols is inside the back cover .
▪
These are listed by District, and located on the map on the back cover .
▪
Soon our young author will be putting call numbers and library cards on the back cover of a six-word book!
door
▪
It pounded the soft earth and gurgled along the gutters to splash with relentless monotony into the tub outside the back door .
▪
If he had a chance to pull a fast one or sneak in the back door , he would do it.
▪
She took her oilskin from the hook on the back door , buttoned herself into it and stepped out, still undetected.
▪
Lincoln whined at the back door and I let him out.
▪
Two men, both thought to be in their twenties, broke down the back door of his home in Bletchley.
▪
By this time the other three men entered at the back door .
▪
I wanted to keep the back door locked and you couldn't do that from inside.
▪
Back when me and my buddies were barricading the front door , who left the back door open?
end
▪
Yet it will soak up heavy bumps that would otherwise bounce the back end off the ground.
▪
She barely fit, with some of her hanging out the back end .
▪
Observant readers will also notice a new look to the columnists who grace the back end of our editorial pages.
▪
This is no more than planning the back end of your leave, just as you planned the front end.
▪
The Audi followed, spinning slightly on the wet road, the back end swinging round as the driver revved too hard.
▪
Without him, the tiller man, the back end was snaking from side to side.
▪
The door in the back end of the tractor-shed was off this.
▪
At the back end , that is, and as soon as you step on to it, you salute.
entrance
▪
There's no back entrance , no side entrance.
▪
They had in mind a back entrance occasionally used by delivery trucks in the dead of night.
▪
It was parked outside the back entrance to a two-storey building.
▪
As we return to the school we cut across the large paved parking lot and head for the back entrance .
▪
With a sigh, Hari moved to the back entrance and knocked again.
▪
I followed, and found a space in the car park near the back entrance to the supermarket.
▪
At the back entrance to the chapel, Jack came to a shuddering halt.
▪
Unfortunately, it used a back entrance to the den and disappeared from view.
foot
▪
Your back foot should be far enough in the back strap to straddle the centreline of the board.
▪
Exercise Experiment with varying positions and different amounts of weight on the back foot when you head into the wind.
▪
With the track forwards, the front or back foot can be placed in the strap.
▪
Most of your weight should be on the back foot .
▪
In his interviews, he plays too much off the back foot , letting the Dimblebys and Waldens bully him.
▪
Place your front foot in the training strap, using the back foot to keep the board level. 3.
▪
Place your back foot in the front high wind strap. 5.
▪
Notice the back foot position on the centreline and look how the hands are well down the boom in a sailing position.
garden
▪
The soldiers meanwhile were looking into back gardens , dustbins and under hedgerows.
▪
He thought he was doing me a favor because it had taken over much of our tiny back garden .
▪
She looks out over the back gardens of John's quiet neighbours.
▪
With a glance around, Stone padded silently round to the back gardens , and approached his garage from the rear.
▪
A well was sunk in the back garden , and water could be pumped up from it into the kitchen.
▪
They walked together through the trellis arch into the back garden .
gate
▪
We left by the back gate of the manor following a trackway through a wood.
▪
The back gate was raised, the canvas flaps lowered, and we were on our way.
▪
We deployed on to the cold, deserted streets, two teams from the back gate and one from the front.
▪
I got in through the back gate without being challenged.
▪
She entered the kitchen from the back gate closing the door on the small yard with a click of finality.
▪
He opened the little back gate and peered around in the dark for the shelter.
▪
I can open the back gate at midnight.
injury
▪
That all stopped when I got a back injury at school.
▪
I was successful until old neck and back injuries resurfaced.
▪
Becker has a stomach virus while Lendl has a back injury .
▪
The Broncos lost starting guard Brian Habib with a lower back injury in the first quarter at Buffalo.
▪
A back injury effectively ended his career seven years ago.
▪
During the attack, one Marine fell into a shallow ravine and suffered a serious back injury .
▪
Deborah Green, 28, a passenger, was taken to the hospital by air ambulance, suffering from back injuries .
▪
Further risks are the increase in diesel fumes, back injuries , dermatitis and stress-related problems - all increasing in coal mines.
issue
▪
Anyway, I thought you ought to know you have your reader back , and I enclose £4 for 4 back issues .
▪
Mackey had seen handbooks on guerrilla tactics, back issues of a racist magazine Guy published.
▪
I look forward to hearing from you, and very much hope that you are able to help with the back issues .
▪
I sent off for back issues and devoured them.
▪
Six issues cost $ 39, and new and back issues are available.
▪
Lifelong readers who kept the back issues piled in their attics renewed their subscriptions like clockwork at the five-year rate.
lane
▪
The back lane , roughly on the line of the original through road, is exactly that.
▪
Wolfenden had come and gone, but persecution was still abroad in the streets and back lanes of Tyneside.
▪
Petitions for lighting in the back lanes of the Denes area and in Great Stainton were handed in.
▪
The back lanes in the North Road area have been atrocious, people were dumping their rubbish in them.
leg
▪
In other chairs the arm is integral to the front and back legs , and must be fitted at an earlier stage.
▪
A black horse was galloping down it, frisking his back legs like a colt.
▪
His big rough hands snip and snip-ears, a tail, back legs .
▪
Leaning over for balance, take hold of your front ankle and raise the back leg .
▪
Others crouched on their haunches and kicked out their back legs behind them, like men carrying out a complex fitness programme.
▪
His body was twisted and his hind-parts and back legs still lay along the ground.
▪
At the same time lift the back leg off the floor, bringing the heel towards your bottom.
office
▪
She liked to stick around, see the results, maybe enjoy some off-camera larks in the back office .
▪
In 1979 Tom Kendall joined the desk from Wharton, with a brief intervening stop in the back office .
▪
Companies will start start moving their back offices from central Tokyo to cheaper areas.
▪
The first traders had their origin, like Lewie, in the back office .
▪
And when I ran mortgages, I religiously took people from the back office .
page
▪
The back page has a strip called Haggis, which is about a black highland terrier and his adventures.
▪
The Arizona Daily Star carried one short blurb in the back pages , but that was it.
▪
Check out the back pages for more information.
▪
Take a look at the back page of your morning paper.
▪
Did you spot the Premier League faces in our back page picture?
▪
Unfortunately, the news was reported in the back pages .
▪
Several other blooms lay bright and brittle between the back pages of the diary, each one neatly labelled.
▪
A few pages of sexy display ads for resorts and tours popped up in the back pages.
pain
▪
Walking can improve your posture and may prevent lower back pain .
▪
After the 1994 Olympics, Grinkov struggled with back pain , but the couple continued to skate as professionals.
▪
He is an engineer who came to study the spine because of his own back pains .
▪
Another side effect of flying in cramped quarters is back pain .
▪
As well as Swindon's economic ills, she's hoping Dons can help cure her back pains .
▪
And as Tavris has pointed out, chronic lower back pain can cause depression and irritability.
▪
Sometimes excruciating back pain , or chronic stomach trouble.
▪
But no one would think to call a sprained ankle or lower back pain a mental disorder.
pass
▪
Joe Worrall who had a good game otherwise, decided this was a back pass .
▪
I was astonished how fast the game has become since the back pass rule has changed.
▪
Possession is nine-tenths of the law and the back pass is safe and sure.
▪
A back pass to McConnell saw the keeper mis-hit the clearance to Ferguson who provided the perfect lob into the net.
▪
This time the keeper made a hash of a back pass from Brown.
▪
He can not handle the back pass ... never has done.
▪
The defence as a whole do not deal with the back pass rule well.
pay
▪
The Ministry of Finance has set aside funds to cover workers' back pay and the mines' debts.
▪
Homar sued for reinstatement of his job, back pay and money damages.
▪
He'd peeled them off a roll that he'd pulled out of his back pocket .
▪
Nothing gets stowed in back pockets .
▪
He fiddles about in his back pocket and finds his wallet.
▪
With his weight settled back on the bed, Primo felt something in his back pocket .
▪
I took the wad of twenties out of the bag and stuffed them into the back pocket of my jeans.
▪
A: Brittania jeans without a back pocket .
▪
Before setting off, when all had been packed away, I unwittingly slipped my clip-on sun-glasses into my back pocket .
▪
For a few months, Goldmann ran the Presidents Conference out of his back pocket as one more title.
porch
▪
Ilsa's house was dark and we padded through to the back porch like conspirators.
▪
Near their back porch , they said, rats scamper about, and maggots slither near trash bins.
▪
It was still goo, so she put it out on the back porch for the cat.
▪
Then he gave a little nod, an apology for interrupting, and leaned the bike against the back porch .
▪
Looking up the hollow from our back porch , the mown field was the only sign of human endeavor.
▪
Sometimes she sits in a lounge chair on the back porch and stares off into space.
▪
Sounds like just the ticket for a shady back porch , cool glass of sun tea and thou.
▪
But the old man had come out on the back porch .
problem
▪
He already travels with a corset for his back problems and leg strapping.
▪
Every hockey player in the world has back problems .
▪
Most back problems originate in this area, but they could be easily avoided by regular exercise of the spinal erectors.
▪
Then the back problem was revealed.
▪
Because I was experiencing shooting sensations around my hips, the doctor was convinced I had a back problem .
▪
Is his back problem more serious?
▪
But his back problem is routine.
▪
Men get more ulcers, hernias, and back problems .
road
▪
But once you're used to it the bike feels totally comfortable scratching through the twists and turns of back roads .
▪
That afternoon I drove nonstop over the back roads of Ames and Bern townships.
▪
She knew every mile of the back roads to Kells through Kilcock, Trim and Fordstown.
▪
A far better alternative was to walk the back roads and country lanes.
▪
But I slip down a couple of back roads and I find it soon enough.
▪
People always honk at me for that so I try to take the back roads .
▪
But don't get carried away with thoughts of throwing an agile Harley around the back roads .
room
▪
In my father's house, I took the back room .
▪
The children sat in their corner of the back room and grumbled over their grasshoppers.
▪
He must have been hiding in the back room behind the stage all the time.
▪
Foaming schooners, free lunch, fish fry Fridays, poker in the back room , arguments settled in the alley.
▪
More pilots ran out of the back room , aroused by the uproar, and joined in the fist-fight.
▪
Ask him if you and he did it last week in a back room .
▪
A biology student with a stutter now occupied the back room .
▪
The other four victims found in the back room or office were nude.
row
▪
A child whimpered in the back row .
▪
At the age of nine I wondered how I would handle my eventual initiation to the back row seating.
▪
At times like this the back row inclined to craven panic.
▪
Newport, well served by Moseley and Waters at the line-out and also by their back row , were looking increasingly confident.
▪
The back row broke out in its loudest laughter yet.
▪
When he saw that Mass was to be in the Lady Chapel he moved across and sat in the back row .
▪
There was a scramble for chairs in the back rows , but I was not one of the lucky ones.
seat
▪
In the back seat a thin face stared ahead.
▪
Maisha giggles and the boys jump in the back seat .
▪
In the back seats , Angus and Sawney.
▪
Then she sits down in the back seat , Black shuts the door, and the cab takes off.
▪
I am driving along a narrow main road, used by fast-moving traffic, with my children in the back seat .
▪
He notes, however, that economic considerations are taking a back seat to budget negotiations.
▪
Florence re-emerged holding a plastic raincoat over herself and the baby, and got into the back seat .
▪
In the Treasury market, Washington budget wranglings took a back seat to empty desks as prices barely budged.
side
▪
Place these over the yellow icing and cut out a front side , a back side, and the two ends.
▪
Godson skied out of bounds down the back side into deep woods to which he was a stranger.
▪
The two were on an unmarked trail, taking them deeper into the pathless woods on the back side of Killington Peak.
▪
My right one, sort of like some one brushed the back side of it.
▪
Pipes and threaded connectors attached to the back sides serve as handles for technicians who carry and install the 700-pound panels.
▪
The postmarks stretched across the top of the envelope in the front and continued on to the back side .
spasm
▪
Right guard Kevin Gogan had a hip pointer and back spasms .
▪
They won without point guard Cameron Murray, who played only two minutes before departing with back spasms .
▪
With Loy Vaught bothered by back spasms , Murray got his first start since Jan. 20.
stair
▪
She put on her robe, lit the candle and went on tip-toe down the back stairs and into the kitchen.
▪
I was shown up a narrow back stair to a small white room with a very hard bed in one corner.
▪
Unfortunately it was the door that led to the back stairs .
▪
I set my mug aside, unplugged the coffeepot, locked the office, and trotted down the back stairs .
▪
At the top of the back stairs I made them wait.
▪
You came up the back stairs ?
▪
Shaking the snow off their hair and coats, the girls skitter up the back stairs into the factory.
▪
With this intention firmly planted in her mind, she headed for the back stairs leading down into the kitchens.
street
▪
We drove along the back streets .
▪
Auguste, the bouncer he picked up in the back streets of Montreal, squeezes my windbreaker before letting me in.
▪
And this was how many such agents lived, in rooms in the back streets of cities.
▪
The result is evident in the back streets and courtyards, which Atalla judiciously avoids with a foreign visitor.
▪
Iain and Tommy drank together on the back streets of Pinner.
▪
I have found one must speak slowly to people who live in the back streets of London.
▪
I got Armstrong fired up and headed towards Hackney, using the back streets to avoid the worst of the rush hour.
▪
And the kind of food and wine that would cost a few francs in a back street cafe.
tax
▪
And work out a suitable figure to be paid in back tax from 1952.
▪
The Internal Revenue Service has been battling him for years for back taxes and penalties related to one venture.
▪
It is doubtful whether the council will be able to recover all the back tax or enforce the costs order.
▪
He owes $ 218, 000 in back taxes and penalties.
wall
▪
On the extreme left-hand end of the back wall is Eastern Touch, E4 6a.
▪
The honeysuckle had climbed the back wall of the house and its fragrance filled my old room.
▪
The mill pond is still maintained in good order although it is smaller, formerly extending right up to the back wall .
▪
On the back wall of the produce shed hangs a schoolroom map of the continental United States.
▪
Cushions, the large hard Arabian cushions, stood neatly along the back wall .
▪
Q: I planted nine tomatoes by a wooden fence and six close to the back wall of the house.
▪
The water was fed to the mill through a cast iron sluice box set in the back wall .
▪
Kitty stood against the back wall , stony, her face blotchy from tears wept in solitude.
way
▪
Maybe I jump out the back way .
▪
Manuel Gustavo arrives, and when no one answers the door, comes in the back way .
▪
They left the streets, making their way across gardens and by back ways into the town to hide in buildings.
▪
Guess they took an opportunity to take the picturesque back way to the zoo while it still exists.
▪
When they reached the stables a groom took the horses and Rain and Ayling entered the house by a back way .
▪
Then he and Jimmy Biondo wrapped Billy in my yellow blanket and carried him down the back way to the alley.
▪
Frank has made a career of knocking on doors, finding the wood is solid and going round the back way .
wheel
▪
Jekub's back wheels were nearly as high as a human.
▪
If the car begins to fishtail, the back wheels have lost grip.
▪
He stabbed the brake, stabbed too hard, and his back wheels slurred in the dirt.
▪
His breathing sounds like the cardboard flap you pin to the back wheel of your bike to make a motorcycle.
▪
The discharged cartridge cases were in the roadway and the gutter, close to the back wheel of the taxi.
▪
If you have quick release wheels , take off the front wheel and lock it to the frame and back wheel.
▪
Later I removed the back wheel , refitted it, adjusted the chain tension and replaced a headlight bulb.
▪
I felt the sinking whir of the back wheel as it dug its own grave.
window
▪
Easky's spire could be seen from the back window from many miles away.
▪
I wave a potato masher at her from the back window .
▪
I know what his car's like - it's yellow, and he's got this sticker on the back window .
▪
He threw each of the twelve bags through the open back window .
▪
At the back window , the oaks and the steep brown hill looked wonderfully romantic in the deluge.
▪
Then he went to the back window and shot me three times in the head.
▪
There were shots, and the back window powdered.
▪
Henry made his way through Danny's yard and peeped through the back window .
yard
▪
Springy, sheep-cropped turf, crisscrossed with dry stone walls, ran down to the back yards of the houses.
▪
Even when I was a toddler, a pick-your-own trip to her back yard was the highlight of any visit.
▪
Please take a look in your own back yard before pointing out the mess in others'.
▪
Tyros get kick-started by taking shoeless jaunts around their house, back yard and neighborhood before hitting the trail.
▪
It was cool and fresh in the summer, the back yard blooming with wallflowers and purple bells.
▪
I shall never never never forget your back yard , planetarium and ham radio shed.
▪
Nine months ago Tessa the Collie was found starving in a back yard in Aylesbury.
▪
They fought through the night to stop the brown water creeping across their back yard .
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
(go) back to the drawing board
▪
Voters rejected the bridge expansion plan, so it's back to the drawing board for city engineers.
▪
For San Jose, it was back to the drawing board.
▪
So Superman, once the most recognized and revered hero in comic books, was sent back to the drawing board.
▪
Sometimes, you also have to go back to the drawing board.
▪
The Cta episode has therefore sent the whole idea of direct dating of petroglyphs back to the drawing board.
▪
They must go back to the drawing board and review the whole of youth training.
▪
They want to see the road plan sent back to the drawing board.
▪
You also could go back to the drawing board with that budget, trying to reduce costs.
▪
You have to discard the propeller engine and go back to the drawing board.
I'll be right with you/right there/right back
a monkey on your back
a pat on the back
▪
I think you all deserve a pat on the back for your hard work.
▪
I think we should give Fairclough a pat on the back for his performances in the last few games.
▪
It amounts to a pat on the back.
▪
Just a smile or a pat on the back may keep a student working.
▪
No one gets past him without an encouraging word, a pat on the back, a smile.
▪
Now congratulate your loved one and give yourself a pat on the back as well for your own agility around the course.
▪
That was intended to be a pat on the back - as one of several others - for me.
▪
The tournament-sponsoring Thunderbirds deserve a pat on the back.
▪
Try starting with a pat on the back to soften the blow of criticism.
a slap on the back
▪
a congratulatory slap on the back
back in the day
back on the rails
▪
He was back on the rails , and moving again.
▪
It seems that matters have fallen behind schedule and need to be put back on the rails .
back seat driver
back to basics
▪
A constructive response to the Howie Report would be more pertinent than saloon-bar simplicities about getting back to basics .
▪
His party claims to be the party of law and order, the family, back to basics .
▪
In other words, forget your fancy gender studies: the neo-Darwinists were marching us back to basics .
▪
Last Wednesday was all about back to basics and glimpses of optimism.
▪
Now, however, it seems that the route to success may once again involve going back to basics .
▪
This month's personal finance column therefore takes a back to basics look at expatriate tax.
▪
Try to counter nervousness by getting right back to basics .
back to nature
▪
He longed to explore, to take the wild adventure of going completely back to nature .
▪
Such language glances back to nature worship.
▪
When people talk of going back to nature , do they really know what they are asking for?
back-handed compliment
▪
It's a back-handed compliment really, you know.
be back in business
▪
After appearing to be in terminal decline the monarchy is back in business .
▪
By the summer of 1992 the dress patrols were back in business .
▪
Last week, Peron was back in business , with a few cosmetic changes.
▪
Male speaker We're setting up in another hangar and hope to be back in business soon.
▪
Nice to see Dave Hill's barber is back in business .
▪
Stop Press: Liverpool is back in business .
▪
The company was back in business .
▪
The Cumberland Tavern - now under new management - is back in business as a rock venue.
be back where you started
▪
If we lose tomorrow, we'll be back where we started .
▪
And if you decide that they are not, then you are back where you started .
▪
So my client and I are back where we started .
▪
To a large extent we are back where we started .
be glad/pleased etc to see the back of sb/sth
be thrown back on sth
▪
For first time in his life, he was being thrown back on the his own resources.
▪
He was about to be thrown back on the bloody rubbish heap, or worse.
▪
The result is that they are thrown back on their own individual and collective resources.
be transported back to/into sth
▪
He had only to pick one of them up to be transported back to the time and place of its acquisition.
▪
Years later, at a sound, sight or scent, you can be transported back to that place.
be/get back on your feet
▪
But we are reliably informed that Angus will be back on his feet and more importantly that seat tomorrow.
▪
He got back on his feet , and they all made another parade around the stage.
▪
In those early years, Macey helped Dole literally get back on his feet .
▪
It was an inexpensive, safe, stable environment for families while they got back on their feet .
▪
Never got back on her feet again, really.
▪
The Mirror Group would soon be back on its feet .
▪
We can get back on our feet .
bite sth ↔ back
blink back/away tears
▪
I noticed that his hands were trembling slightly, and he seemed to be blinking back tears.
▪
She needed to blink away tears.
▪
Touching the welt, Howard tried to blink back tears before going inside.
break the back of sth
▪
A combination of ground and air action broke the back of the rebellion.
▪
His two interceptions Sunday broke the back of the Pittsburgh Steelers as Dallas won the duel in the desert, 27-17.
▪
In Czechoslovakia last March Martin Keown nearly broke the back of the net with a long-range effort.
▪
It would have been nice for him to wind things up by breaking the back of Britain's opposition to integration.
▪
Pouring over its latest simulation runs, Sun is confident it has broken the back of the technical problem.
▪
Their thunderous charges have broken the back of many an invading army.
bring sb back to sth
▪
Food brought me back to the human face.
▪
He had felt ashamed the first time he put it on: it brought him back to his ugliness.
▪
Polishing with a soft cloth will bring the surface back to life.
▪
She brings the papers back to her office and shuts the door.
▪
This brings us back to the expressive order.
▪
We must bring that cup back to Oxfordshire.
▪
Which brings us back to red wine.
▪
Which brings us back to why this period is one of some urgency.
bring sb ↔ back
bring sth ↔ back
bring sth ↔ back
bring sth ↔ back
call (sb) back
can do sth with one hand (tied) behind your back
cast your mind back
▪
Cast you mind back a few weeks to the Athletics Championship in Armagh.
▪
He frowned, casting his mind back over the conversation they had held.
▪
Henry cast his mind back to the fateful evening.
▪
Lisa, if you cast your mind back, I think you'll recall that it was your idea.
▪
Again, more in control of matters, he cast his mind back.
▪
He cast his mind back to his homecoming earlier that evening.
▪
He racked his brains, he cast his mind back.
▪
I cast my mind back to our excited departure from Gatwick airport.
▪
Let us cast our minds back to the referendum.
come back/down to earth (with a bump)
▪
Adai can come back to Earth after Gog is dead - after I am dead, perhaps.
▪
AIr travellers came down to earth with a bump yesterday when they joined in some charity aerobics.
▪
In Karuzi you quickly come down to earth .
▪
Maybe, but the once pricey products that use this satellite technology have come down to earth .
▪
Peter Lilley came down to earth .
▪
They recently have come down to Earth .
cut sth ↔ back
fight sth ↔ back
front/rear/back wheels
get in through the back door
get sb back
get sth ↔ back
go to hell and back
have eyes in the back of your head
▪
When you're looking after a two year old, you need to have eyes in the back of your head.
▪
You need to have eyes in the back of your head to be a teacher.
hold (sb) back
▪
His wife had to hold him back.
▪
I had to eat with one hand and hold the hair back with the other-it was so fiddly.
▪
No walls, no fences, nothing to hold him back.
▪
Suddenly she holds some back as if still determined to drive the hardest possible bargain.
▪
That wildfire feeling might have got a hold a month back, but it would not be allowed to do so again.
▪
The whistle postponed it, held it back until announcing the morning shift at six.
hold sb/sth ↔ back
▪
I had to eat with one hand and hold the hair back with the other-it was so fiddly.
▪
Its plush vegetation crowded the restraining fence that had been made strong, damned near impregnable, to hold it back.
▪
No walls, no fences, nothing to hold him back.
▪
Suddenly she holds some back as if still determined to drive the hardest possible bargain.
▪
That wildfire feeling might have got a hold a month back, but it would not be allowed to do so again.
▪
The whistle postponed it, held it back until announcing the morning shift at six.
hold sb/sth ↔ back
▪
His wife had to hold him back.
▪
I had to eat with one hand and hold the hair back with the other-it was so fiddly.
▪
Its plush vegetation crowded the restraining fence that had been made strong, damned near impregnable, to hold it back.
▪
No walls, no fences, nothing to hold him back.
▪
Suddenly she holds some back as if still determined to drive the hardest possible bargain.
▪
That wildfire feeling might have got a hold a month back, but it would not be allowed to do so again.
▪
The whistle postponed it, held it back until announcing the morning shift at six.
hold sth ↔ back
▪
His wife had to hold him back.
▪
I had to eat with one hand and hold the hair back with the other-it was so fiddly.
▪
Its plush vegetation crowded the restraining fence that had been made strong, damned near impregnable, to hold it back.
▪
No walls, no fences, nothing to hold him back.
▪
Suddenly she holds some back as if still determined to drive the hardest possible bargain.
▪
That wildfire feeling might have got a hold a month back, but it would not be allowed to do so again.
hold sth ↔ back
▪
His wife had to hold him back.
▪
Its plush vegetation crowded the restraining fence that had been made strong, damned near impregnable, to hold it back.
▪
Suddenly she holds some back as if still determined to drive the hardest possible bargain.
▪
That wildfire feeling might have got a hold a month back, but it would not be allowed to do so again.
▪
The whistle postponed it, held it back until announcing the morning shift at six.
it fell off the back of a lorry
keep sb ↔ back
keep sth ↔ back
keep sth ↔ back
keep sth ↔ back
knock sb back
knock sb back sth
knock sth ↔ back
lie back and think of England
like water off a duck's back
my head/back etc is killing me
never look back
▪
After Berg left baseball in 1978, he never looked back.
▪
After this he would never look back.
▪
And it was a strange feeling for Lois when she saw Paul do just that and never look back.
▪
He grabbed the points race lead for good in late April and virtually never looked back.
▪
Her studies were interrupted by the opportunity to go into local politics, from which she has never looked back.
▪
Mandy Rice-Davies meant good times, and never looking back.
▪
Once he learned to ride his gains and cut his losses, he never looked back.
▪
She never looked back to see what was chasing her, just woke in a cramped sweat, breathless and in tears.
▪
Today their dreams have come true partially because they burned their bridges and never looked back.
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.
pull sth ↔ back
put a clock/watch back
put sb/sth ↔ back
put sth ↔ back
put sth ↔ back
put the clock(s) back/forward
▪
Anyway, even if one wanted to, one couldn't put the clock back to an earlier age.
▪
I can't put the clock back.
▪
They were therefore accused of putting the clock back and bringing the best hope of Christendom to an impasse.
put the roses back in sb's cheeks
put your back out
put/leave sth on the back burner
put/turn the clock back
▪
If I could turn the clock back, I don't think I'd study law again.
▪
It would be nice to put the clock back to the years when Mum and Dad were still alive.
▪
He thinks you can turn the clock back.
▪
It was almost like turning the clock back a couple of centuries.
▪
Not unless they fell into Morton's hands. Turn the clock back.
▪
Or not lie, maybe. Turn the clock back.
▪
The most important thing now is not to turn the clock back.
▪
This great divide can not be bridged by turning the clock back.
▪
We can not turn the clock back.
▪
What is past is past and you can not turn the clock back.
rick your back/neck
ride on sb's shoulders/back
▪
Better than that was riding on his back while he went down on hands and knees and neighed like a horse.
▪
Dostoevsky wanted to stifle the thought that he was riding on the back of Nechacv's perverse glamour.
▪
Just by riding on your shoulders, Newt.
▪
Oblivious to the emotion riding on their backs, Aureole and Pinza came to Epsom with excellent credentials.
▪
Or you can ride on my back, if you prefer.
▪
People on welfare are not taking a ride on the backs of other people.
▪
Power can not ride on an upright back.
rise/come back/return from the dead
▪
A few weeks later Patrick Ashby came back from the dead and went home to inherit the family house and fortune.
▪
Friends don't come back from the dead , Leila thought, rampaging through the corridor from the canteen.
▪
The single engine airplane business came back from the dead after the General Aviation Revitalization Act made it harder to sue.
▪
When Cardiff had come back from the dead , he had shrunk away back down the hessian-screen corridor towards Rohmer.
roll back the years
▪
But he rolled back the years wearing his old jockeys' uniform in the Radcliffe Selling Stakes at Nottingham.
set sb/sth ↔ back
slap sb on the back
▪
Forbes slapped me on the back.
▪
He rushed over and slapped me on the back as I lifted a highball to my lips.
▪
I go to slap her on the back but she waves my arm away impatiently.
▪
In those days it was considered bad form even to slap you on the back.
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Jack said, and he slapped Streeter on the back of the head with his gun hand.
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She slapped him on the back.
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She intended to slap Elisabeth on the back, but she was too late.
stab in the back
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I was stabbed in the back because I don't have those problems with Steve.
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It's so many stabs in the back ... It's the whole system which is tucking us up.
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MacQuillan had been stabbed in the back, there were no palm or fingerprints on the weapon.
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Nationalists supported the Wilson/Callaghan governments for years, only to be stabbed in the back in the end.
stab sb in the back
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He seems friendly, but he wouldn't hesitate to stab you in the back if he thought it would help him get your job.
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Thatcher was stabbed in the back by her former friends and colleagues in the Conservative Party.
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I see, you criticize my appearance, and then you stab me in the back!
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Some one reached through an open window and stabbed Bastidas in the back.
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Why stab Manchester in the back for helping to create a bigger northern network of clubs, raves and fashion outlets?
take a back seat
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Women have often been forced to take a back seat in society.
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And very generally, the interests of lenders in New York take a back seat to the interests of the corporate borrowers.
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But when they were introduced, everything upstairs had to take a back seat.
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He notes, however, that economic considerations are taking a back seat to budget negotiations.
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If you can't agree to disagree, then take a back seat and let others have their way on this occasion.
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It was also a year when investment bankers took a back seat.
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Many feel reluctant to take a back seat and allow their children to enjoy the special attractiveness of the teens and twenties.
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Mr Peters has now taken a back seat.
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That her family had taken a back seat in her life.
take a back seat (to sb/sth)
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Quality will have to take a back seat to price when we buy the new furniture.
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And very generally, the interests of lenders in New York take a back seat to the interests of the corporate borrowers.
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As the race drew closer it was time for Paul to take a back seat .
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But when they were introduced, everything upstairs had to take a back seat .
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Golf Faldo forced to take a back seat to Walker Cup team.
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He notes, however, that economic considerations are taking a back seat to budget negotiations.
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It was also a year when investment bankers took a back seat .
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Long-term planning took a back seat in the deliberations of the senior engineers whose efforts were principally devoted to overcoming short-term problems.
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Turning the original classic topsy-turvy, Stoppard makes Hamlet himself take a back seat and elevates two minor characters to star status.
take sth ↔ back
take sth ↔ back
the clocks go back/forward
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I, like many other riders, am eagerly awaiting the clocks going forward.
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Police say they had to enforce the law after 1am when the clocks went forward an hour.
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When the clocks go back in late October it will be dark by five o'clock in the afternoon.
the small of your back
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A hot water bottle in the small of your back should help.
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As the skaters skated, they sometimes tucked one arm into the small of their backs.
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But then he was sandwiched between the door and the floor level, concrete lip digging into the small of his back.
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Her white sweatshirt is bunched up and tucked in at the small of her back, so her rear is exposed.
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I could see the great livid weals of scars running across the small of her back and down her mighty thighs.
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I stroke the small of his back.
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She moved her hand to the small of his back and propelled him across the porch.
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When he stepped forward to use the other hand, something cracked into the small of his back, and he stumbled.
there's no going back
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There's no going back, even if I wanted to, which I don't.
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Too late you realize that there's no going back.
there's no holding sb (back)
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For Casey, there was no holding back when it came to music.
throw sth (back) in sb's face
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It was no fun having my own words thrown back at me by my kids.
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A lot of their love would be rebuffed or thrown back in their faces.
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My love - my name thrown back in my face.
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Nobody was throwing anything in their faces.
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This would be thrown back in his face later by North Koreaand sooner than anyone guessed.
turn your back (on sb/sth)
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He turned his back on Shauna and walked to the window.
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He would never turn his back on a fellow veteran.
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Many immigrants turn their back on the old ways.
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He turned his back abruptly and walked away.
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He acknowledged his paternity when he could have easily turned his back on him and told him he was a servant.
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I handed him back that hundred dollars and turned my back and took him in.
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Kissinger said it was disgraceful that the United States had turned its back on one of her oldest and closest friends.
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So in the end I turned my back on it and walked away.
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Weaken, turn your back for a moment and it could be lost for good.
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Wiltshire's Social Services department has promised not to turn its back on the problem of alcoholics.
watch your back
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He may be prime minister for now, but he still needs to watch his back.
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Besides which, I needed an ally at the shop, some one to watch my back should things get hairy.
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But watch your back when I get out, all right?
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But Yeltsin will have to watch his back.
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Drug traffickers and guerrillas mix with spies and mercenaries, all cautiously watching their backs.
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Enjoy it, but watch your back.
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Other agents are watching his back, he says.
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She watched his back for a moment.
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She noticed that everyone seemed to have drifted a little closer; was talking a little less, watching their backs.
you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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a back view
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I took the back way out of town.
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the back wall of the factory
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The burglars broke into the house through the back door.
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The car was later found parked on a back parking lot of the complex.
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The kids should sit in the back seat.
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They waited by the back entrance.
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You can put your suitcase on the back seat of the car.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Capshaw sent him out the back door to avoid whoever it was keeping guard in the front.
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It allows the vehicle to manoeuvre without tearing itself apart on the back axle.
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Yet it will soak up heavy bumps that would otherwise bounce the back end off the ground.