I. conjunction
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a case comes before a judge/court
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The case came before the federal courts.
a case comes to court/comes before the court
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The case came to court 21 months later.
an accessory before/after the fact (= someone who helps a criminal before or after the crime )
an hour/three hours etc earlier/before
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I had just seen him a few hours earlier.
appear before a court/judge/committee etc
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She appeared before Colchester magistrates charged with attempted murder.
before I forget (= forget to get it )
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Give me your phone number before I forget .
go before/be put before parliament (= be considered by parliament )
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The Bill goes before Parliament on November 16.
go before/be put before parliament (= be considered by parliament )
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The Bill goes before Parliament on November 16.
hardly ... when/before
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She had hardly sat down when the phone rang.
immediately before/preceding sth
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I can’t remember what happened immediately before the crash.
It wasn’t long before (= soon )
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It wasn’t long before Lisa arrived.
just before/after/over etc
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We moved here just after our son was born.
once before
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Paul’s been to Wexford once before .
premarital sex/sex before marriage (= sex happening before marriage )
seen it all before (= has experienced so much that nothing surprises her )
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She’s seen it all before in her long career.
sex before/outside marriage
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Her religious beliefs prevented sex before marriage.
the day before yesterday
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We arrived in France the day before yesterday.
the day before yesterday
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They arrived the day before yesterday .
well before
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She’s been up since well before dawn.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
I've heard that one before
after/before/until dark
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Badgers usually only venture out after dark , so they can be difficult to spot.
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I have often come out here alone after dark to breathe it in.
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If McQuaid had a big order to fill he mightn't come till after dark .
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Not many people chose to take a ride on such a bumpy, gloomy road after dark in the month of January.
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Start in the morning and not go home until dark .
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That evening I was all right - Joanna would be afloat in the late afternoon, and I could get away before dark .
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We had been too nervous to arrive after dark .
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We worked from early morning until dark .
be old before your time
be up before sth/sb
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Borrowers on a budget plan have to wait till the year is up before they can reap the benefits.
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I had not slept much and was up before dawn.
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In November 1987 they were up before the court on badger digging charges - one got off due to inadequate evidence.
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Rae was up before dawn all that week.
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The women were up before first light and called me over for tea.
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We will have to be up before dawn for the Buddhist ceremony.
before long
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But if past success is any guide, another Nasdaq company will join the fold before long .
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He supported individual artists financially, and before long Perkins Cove lured them north.
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His problems had been much more serious than mine, but before long he was accepted by everyone.
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I found that before long I was eating everything - most people did out of boredom.
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If news sites waited around before updating their visitors, before long they'd have none to update.
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Late in 1994, Riley abandoned paper altogether and before long , the Riley Guide moved on to the Web.
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So I walked down to the sea and before long , I was at the ship and was swimming round it.
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Stevie would start spinning stuff out of whole cloth to Bill, and before long , the whole camp would fall silent.
before the Flood
before the day/year etc is out
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He might supplant Jones before the year is out .
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There will be many more surprises before the year is out .
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Voice over Meanwhile up to 1,000 more break-ins are expected in Gloucestershire before the year is out .
before you can say Jack Robinson
before you could blink
before you know it
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Spring break will be here before you know it.
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You'll be fully recovered before you know it.
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You offer to iron his shirt and before you know it, he expects you to do all the housework.
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He saves his money, before you know it he owns a car.
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It happens before you know it.
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It seemed a long way away but before we knew it we were paying the last of the deposits.
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One thing kept leading to another, and before I knew it a small industry had been set in motion.
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Take time with people, and you will see success in your business before you know it.
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They claim that news is just around the corner, and that it will be on us before we know it.
before your time
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As for this debut, it comes to us regrettably before its time .
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In many ways, his books, written in the first three decades of the last century, were before their time .
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No, he was before my time .
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She did not look old; rather, she had become wrinkled before her time .
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That would be before your time , of course.
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The last family to live there was called Wright, but that was well before my time .
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The men in the farmyard were all Fallschirmjager, hard young men, old before their time with cropped hair.
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There is a basic truth in his assertion, for before his time the use of marble was rare in Roman architecture.
before your very eyes
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Get them by blasting the goose-neck helicopter that assembles itself before your very eyes !
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He hadn't even touched her, yet she was in severe danger of coming unglued before his very eyes .
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He unzipped his fly and peed before their very eyes .
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It isn't even about having him perform them for us before our very eyes , on demand.
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Michael plans to prepare complete meals before your very eyes .
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One hundred and fifty years of glamour sitting on a stool right before your very eyes , that's what she was.
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The pounds, shillings and pence were dancing before her very eyes .
best before
carry all/everything before you
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For much of 1981 and early 1982 the Social Democrats seemed to carry all before them.
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Hollywood had carried all before it but even the Hollywood product was fairly diversified.
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Neath carried all before them in winning the inaugural Heineken League last season - or did they?
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The conventional view, then as now, was that Lanfranc had carried all before him in asserting the rights of Canterbury.
cast/throw pearls before swine
dangle sth in front of sb/before sb
don't count your chickens (before they're hatched)
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Getting an Oscar would be wonderful, but I think it's too early to count my chickens.
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If you want to go on a date sometime, you can ask me. But don't count your chickens.
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You'll probably get the job, but don't count your chickens just yet.
go before sb/sth
look before you leap
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Proceed with caution and, at the risk of sounding like a tabloid astrologer, look before you leap.
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Whatever you decide, it pays to look before you leap.
not before time/and about time (too)
put the cart before the horse
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It is Labour's insistence on putting the cart before the horse which fills me with gloom.
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It seems to me that Mr Topolski is putting the cart before the horse.
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This is putting the cart before the horse.
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This may sound like putting the cart before the horse and being unnecessarily pessimistic.
run before you can walk
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I think too that she wants to run before she can walk.
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Just don't try to run before you can walk.
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Try to be honest with your use of the table and don't attempt to run before you can walk.
sb's life flashes before their eyes
the calm before the storm
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Charity should have recognised it as the calm before the storm, but she didn't.
the day/week/year etc before last
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I didn't know myself where the house was until the week before last .
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In the week before last , claims rose by 22, 000.
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The Sunday newspaper articles had come out the week before last , and were still bringing in letters.
the lull before the storm
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Then came the lull before the storm.
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There was a feeling that something was in the air, that it was the lull before the storm.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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Before you get angry, try and remember what it was like to be fifteen.
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Anthony wants to see you before you go.
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It will be a few days before we know the full results.
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Lock up your bike before it gets stolen.
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Take that dog indoors before it bites somebody.
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There's a lot to do before we can submit the proposal.
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We don't know how long it'll be before I get the cast off my arm.
II. preposition
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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Call me back before 5.30.
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Denise got there before me.
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I think you were before me in line, weren't you?
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I visited them just before Christmas.
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Islington station is one stop before Finsbury Park on the Victoria Line.
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My son is most important - he comes before anyone.
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No cookies before dinner, Andy.
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Our daughter was born just before Christmas.
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Quality should come before quantity.
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She gave a presentation before the board of directors.
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She trembled before the prospect of meeting him again.
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The highway stretched out before them.
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The priest knelt before the altar.
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The proposal came before the city council a year ago.
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This lady was before you, sir.
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Turn left just before the traffic lights.
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We had the whole summer before us.
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You should go, before John gets back.
III. adverb
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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I've never been to this restaurant before .
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I had never seen such an ugly baby before .
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I know I've seen him somewhere before .
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Sheila and I became friends in 1995, although we had actually met several years before .
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The king's guards walked before .
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Wendell had never been on a plane before .
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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But Garvey and Lucie had to clown more than before .
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This was a different Fernando from the one she had loved so passionately before .