BEST


Meaning of BEST in English

I. adjective

COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES

at best...at worst

Choosing the right software can be time-consuming at best and confusing or frustrating at worst .

best endeavours

Despite our best endeavours , we couldn’t start the car.

best man

best practice

come off second best (= lose a game or competition, or not be as successful as someone else )

for reasons best known to sb (= used when you do not understand someone’s behaviour )

For reasons best known to herself, she decided to sell the house.

good intentions/the best (of) intentions (= intentions to do something good or kind, especially when you do not succeed in doing it )

He thinks the minister is full of good intentions that won’t be carried out.

good/best mate

He’s good mates with John.

hope for the best (= hope that a situation will end well when there is a risk of things going wrong )

Liam decided to ignore the warning and just hope for the best .

how best (= the best way )

advice on how best to invest your money

is best known for (= people are most likely to be familiar with )

Hepburn is best known for her roles in classic films such as ‘My Fair Lady’.

judge it best/better to do sth (= think that something is the best thing to do )

Robert wanted to go and help him, but judged it best to stay where he was.

like best (= like most of all )

The time I like best is the evening when it’s cool.

make sth the best/worst/most expensive etc

Over 80,000 people attended, making it the biggest sporting event in the area.

meant it for the best (= wanted to be helpful, although my actions had the wrong effect )

I wasn’t criticizing you, I really meant it for the best .

much the best/most interesting etc British English

It’s much the best way to do it.

of the worst/best etc kind

This is hypocrisy of the worst kind.

sb’s best clothes

They wore their best clothes for the photograph.

sb’s best friend (= the friend you like the most )

Fiona was her best friend.

sb’s best guess (= one that you think is most likely to be right )

My best guess is that it will take around six months.

sb’s best handwriting

In his best handwriting, he wrote, 'Happy Father’s Day, Dad'.

second best

Allie was the second best shooter on the rifle team.

second best

I’m not going to settle for second best .

settle for second best

I’m not going to settle for second best .

the best available

We use the best available technology.

the best means

Is this really the best means of achieving our goal?

the best plan British English (= the best thing to do )

I think the best plan is to take the train.

the best route

Let's look at the map and work out the best route.

the best way

Doing the job is often regarded as the best way of learning the job.

the best/greatest etc that/who ever lived (= the best, greatest etc who has been alive at any time )

He’s probably the best journalist who ever lived.

the best/perfect/ideal solution

Locking people in prison is not necessarily the ideal solution.

the best/tallest etc in the world

We want to become the best team in the world.

the best/worst kind

Not knowing what had happened to her was the worst kind of torture.

the best/worst part

The worst part was having to work even when it was raining.

the very best/latest/worst etc

We only use the very best ingredients.

the world’s best/tallest etc

It is the world’s largest car manufacturer.

to (the best of) my recollection (= used when you are unsure if you remember correctly )

To the best of my recollection, she drives a Mercedes.

Noone, to my recollection, gave a second thought to the risks involved.

try your best/hardest (= make as much effort as possible )

Try your best to block out other distractions.

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ ADVERB

very

Our experienced editors comb the publishers' lists continually for the very best books for children - of all ages.

It would have to be the very best , and by a healthy margin.

Her old chum, her very best friend.

Knowing that, later I always insisted we send our very best , not our worst, when we were called on.

Traditional music at it s very best !

In my heart I was fiercely competitive: I wanted to be the very best at anything I cared about.

This is one of Gibson's very best discs and the orchestra plays splendidly.

The very best I could do was control my tears, to a point.

■ NOUN

bet

Your best bet is to act unconcerned.

Extreme surfer and skateboard styles are still a best bet .

Despite the presence of the unbeaten Daarik, Montendre looks the best bet at York.

Until then, Confucius is your best bet .

Then the Pantry is your best bet .

Whether Tendulkar rather than McDermott will be the best bet in that direction remains open to question.

Perhaps the best bet would be to ignore the words altogether and focus on the music.

chance

Linfield had the best chance of the half, however, Eachus making a stunning save from a Johnston shot.

Mitch Snyder may have realized it was his best chance of making some kind of mark on the parish.

Fertilisations may occur over a period of a month, but the most recent foetuses have the best chance to develop.

I think he has the best chance of winning.

Blanche knew this was her best chance .

That was his best chance to win on his own.

In retrospect, this period offered the best chance for a settlement.

example

I try to be the best example I can be.

Lord Thomson was the best example in the post-war period.

Perhaps the best example is CompuServe.

Perhaps the best example of the problems that this approach can cause is the Atari desktop publishing system.

The best example of this approach is an active document.

One might at least look to the best examples there may be today.

The best example is the evidence that surfaced last week in the billing records of her former law firm from 1985-86.

friend

Darling, sometimes, you are my best friend .

Both had grandsons who were best friends in the same grade in the same school.

Brilliant actress - I can totally freak out and not even my best friend knows.

She is anticipating a visit from Varvara, her best friend , who will arrive later this summer.

Stuart must be their best friend .

Jessica Rankin was pregnant, and I was her best friend .

Suddenly, the loyalist outcry over the arrests in the Rathcoole district was the government's best friend .

A Friend Dear Friend: Half of this panel say tell the best friend.

hope

Integration is the best hope for both.

The Suns may have to determine whether their best hope of rebuilding is to put Barkley on the market.

But for now persuasion, carrots and free elections remain the best hope .

He best hope Bill Cowher is.

Paradoxically, Diamond feels this loss of linguistic diversity may be our best hope .

He is still our best hope; our only hope .

The best hope for tree-nests is that they should be inaccessible.

If you want to dig the dirt your best hope is old Gooseneck, especially if he finds you attractive.

interest

If not, they are free to treat him in what they believe to be his best interests .

Their best interests must be served.

Despite the struggles, most still assume that Castro has their best interests at heart.

My loving parents are determining my future, with only my best interests at heart.

All the artificial constraints of maintaining a regulated monopoly mean that it is not in the best interests of the consumer.

Why would any nation hesitate to serve its own best interests by such sensible and humane redirection of its wealth?

The second aspect of merit goods is where society believes that individuals are no longer acting in their own best interests .

It is in the best interests of the family to have a body to embrace and say goodbye to.

job

Despite the demands they face, all Red Arrows will tell you it's the best job in the world.

Fane Leeper was also the best job superintendent on the East Coast.

As the Helliwell sisters always had the pick of the best jobs , they of course lived there while working in London.

The other believed you use money to enhance the business to get people-to do the very best job for you.

Working for Blue Peter has got to be the best job in television.

In this there was a lesson: To get the best job , you had to weather the most abuse.

It's the best job in the world!

Candidates who have the most formal education and who are willing to relocate should have the best job prospects.

man

You are the best man , so you can be best man.

They were close friends, and Critchley was the best man at Heseltine's wedding.

At the beginning, Ben Corum, one of our best men , had gone down to Texas.

When when they left the church the bride and groom were followed by the best man and the bridesmaid.

With John Alsop away at parachute school, George Thomson served as best man .

Perhaps the best man could take on the responsibility of arriving before the guests and checking the microphone.

part

The best parts at the right price.

But the best part was the partner I spent most of my time with in the small real estate department.

The journey was the best part of the evening.

And the best part of visiting both is that eating haggis is not mandatory.

It is worth noting that this excess has been left to grow steadily over the best part of two centuries.

The best part of this game?

The bottom octave and a half of its compass is the best part of its range for everyday use.

The best part of me was lying under the ground with him in the California desert.

place

The next best place is a well-ventilated room.

The best place to walk is in the middle of the pavement.

But the best place was the river bank.

Where is the best place to get tested?

The occultist, Dion Fortune, wrote that the best place to wake the old gods is on chalk.

It has made this country one of the best places in which to live, work and bring up our children.

We spent most of the time on the planet acid: the best place for us to be.

player

He was United's best player by some margin on the night.

Shareef Abdur-Rahim is one of the best freshmen in the nation and best players in the league.

The only way to stop us now is selling our best players .

A: It is difficult because you are playing the best players .

Once again, Steffi Graf has shown herself to be the best player in the world by far - in more than one sense.

The best player in the world had been there, done that.

Boro midfield player Graham Kavanagh was voted the best player in the tournament.

Oduok has gone from being an inexperienced, uncertain player to one of the best players in the West Coast Conference.

practice

This chapter places project appraisal in context, discusses methods of appraisal and describes best practice .

The Energy Efficiency Office in my Department continues to promote the wider use of the technology under its best practice programme.

Equally important, however, is the acknowledgement that whatever is best practice today will almost certainly not be tomorrow.

The Centre will develop scenarios on emerging international markets in services, establish a database and produce company cases recording best practice .

The situation with Cadbury's proposed code of best practice could not be more different.

Communication Communicating the conclusions of best practice reviews is an activity that might well benefit from a best practice review itself.

The best practice is to try steering a controlled wiggly course using your weight.

There was also no correlation between those bids which showed best practice and those which were successful.

result

The best results are obtained from watercolours, oils being less clean and controllable.

But, like an athlete, you must practice these exercises deliberately and consistently for the best results .

For thin sections, best results are obtained if the stain is warmed.

Pilates instructors also teach correct breathing and urge concentration on form for best results .

It is necessary to follow the routines exactly to obtain the best results .

Fish the northern side of Bird Island with jigs tipped with minnows at dawn for best results .

I realise this is higher than originally envisaged but I firmly believe our approach will lead to the best result .

The programs with the best results warn students of the long-term consequences of drug use.

seller

His album Stars was last year's best seller and spawned a string of hit singles.

Her book became an international best seller .

Voice over Mrs De Winter is already tipped as being one of the best sellers this year.

Q.. What makes a book a best seller ?

She evidently had no concept of books other than best sellers .

The man who made a best seller out of a defamatory rant now wants to make a best seller out of repentance.

The Cavalier was the best seller in October, ahead of the Escort or Fiesta.

Drosnin is an investigative newspaper reporter who once wrote a best seller about Howard Hughes.

thing

The best thing about it was the solitude.

The best thing about it is that it works.

He leaves it undisclosed, which is perhaps the best thing to do with secrets.

Peace is the best thing you can wish for parents whose child has died, says a woman interviewed in the book.

The best thing about them is their smell.

The best thing I can do is stay in as good shape as possible.

The best thing they could do was comb the hundreds of pubs in the area.

Only days later, however, he was preaching that the outcome was the best thing that state had ever seen.

time

The best time for the cuckoo to lay its egg is after the hosts have started laying and before they have finished.

The best time to nudge children toward functional writing is when they are in the midst of doing purposeful work.

The best time to practice relaxation is when you are feeling most under stress but often this is not convenient.

Hard times but the best times.

They are some of the best times I have ever had.

I mean, some of the best times of my life occurred when Dwight D.. Eisenhower was president.

Some of the best times of his life had been Sunday mornings.

You have the best time of anyone around.

way

What would be the best way to grow it?

The best way to find relief is to approach her and apologize.

It was the best way to make a snug billet for himself.

Once again, the best way to determine whether a title is appropriate is to find out your readers' preference.

But the best way for us to deal with it was as a family because it's less frightening that way.

Thus, understanding how it stirs is one of the best ways for geophysicists to create an all-inclusive picture.

He felt the best way to cure her was to keep giving her her head.

The best way to say it is, everyone has different philosophies.

wish

I don't know your grandparents, but I hope you will send them my best wishes .

With best wishes for success and prosperity.

My best wishes to Madame Zborowska and warm greetings to you.

And please accept our best wishes for a healthy, happy and prosperous 1996.

And while babies are on my mind, my best wishes to Patsy Kensit on the birth of her son.

Our best wishes go to John and his family and we look forward to working with him for another 15 year.

Please believe in my loyalty and friendship and give my best wishes to your wife.

Please give him our best wishes for the year.

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

at your best/worst/most effective etc

be on your best behaviour

Dinner was very formal, with everyone on their best behaviour .

And if what Cadfael suspected was indeed true, he had now good reason to be on his best behaviour .

But everyone is on their best behaviour .

So when we arrived hopefully at Loch Hope that morning, I was on my best behaviour .

Use only our own girls and warn them to be on their best behaviour .

be sb's last/only/best hope

Advocates just seem to take it on faith that annexation is the only hope of salvation for this city.

But mad or not, you are my only hope , Meg.

But Thomas Sachs was now her only hope .

I expected to be disappointed, though the letter was now my only hope .

In the long term, Mr Heseltine said that privatisation was the only hope for the industry.

Is he only hoping to make money?

Robert Urquhart was her only hope , her only ally.

That was the only hope I had of reaching the doctor.

best/good/warmest etc wishes

A former miner, Joe was presented with a cheque together with good wishes for a long and happy retirement.

And while babies are on my mind, my best wishes to Patsy Kensit on the birth of her son.

Meanwhile, may I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and best wishes for the coming year.

My best wishes to Madame Zborowska and warm greetings to you.

Our best wishes to his family and friends.

She hadn't deserved their kindness, their good wishes - she'd hardly been a boon companion of late.

Spare me your shock and good wishes .

With best wishes for success and prosperity.

best/well/ideally/perfectly etc suited to/for sth

Boar chops are best suited to grilling or sauteing.

If I were a free agent, those are the places I would go, a place best suited for my needs.

It is not however so well suited to an intensive, detailed study of spoken language.

Nevertheless, it is an early maturing variety well suited to the long ripening period of a northern wine region.

Secondly, the adversary nature of the adjudicative process may not be well suited to this area.

The farmer's wife was well suited to tackling this considerable undertaking.

Use the systems best suited to their talent, both offensively and defensively.

We have large quantities of plutonium already separated and in forms ideally suited for nuclear weapons.

bring out the best/worst in sb

Ingram always seems to bring out the best in his players.

And Vince was obviously a great coach; he brought out the best in his team and whoever played him.

But the Washington Wizards have a way of bringing out the best in their opponents.

But, says Markert, there is something about one-way communication that can also bring out the worst in people.

Campaigns seem to bring out the worst in Bob Dole.

It brings out the best in us.

Maybe something like they tend to bring out the best in us.

So, to bring out the best in your cooking make sure you use the purest soy sauce, Kikkoman Soy Sauce.

Yet it was not an unsuccessful attempt to bring out the best in his audience.

come off best/better/worst etc

Alec Davidson, for example, was one of those who came off worst.

Bullock comes off best because her complaining seems so valid.

His foster-child comes off best, but in addition each of two nurses receives a tenth of his estate.

It may seem, so far, that in terms of clearly defined benefits, the client comes off best out of the deal.

Prior to that Meath had come off best when they accounted for Down in the 1990 league decider.

The lightning, it seemed to Lydia, had undoubtedly come off best in that encounter.

The problem is that history sometimes comes off better.

easily the best/biggest etc

Aluminium benching is easily the best, as it virtually lasts for ever and is easily cleaned.

He's easily the best military brain in the country.

It's easily the best Fermanagh side I've played on.

It gave easily the best value.

Johnny Hero played the between set music - again proving that he hosts easily the best disco in town.

Natural gas forms easily the biggest world reserve of methane-rich fuel.

The greens were easily the best part of the dish.

The pension is easily the biggest single cash benefit.

give sth your best shot

I'm not promising I'll succeed, but I'll give it my best shot .

Hopefully he can recover and regain his test place and give it his best shot .

I'd have given it my best shot , and that was all anyone could demand from me.

I just have a feeling that we have given it our best shot .

The band gave it their best shot , until the arrival of the blue meanies put an end to the proceedings.

You were never entirely safe from prying fingers in Chinatown, but I had to give it my best shot .

good luck/best of luck

Best of luck with your driving test.

Good luck Archie! Enjoy your new job.

good/best/bad practice

An annex citing examples of good practice would also be helpful.

Carlesimo said Tuesday, adding that Marshall had just put in his best practice of camp.

It is good practice to make a note of the client's telephone number on the file.

Supporters of those with special needs should be exemplars of such good practice .

The good practice presented in Table 2 and Appendix 3 addresses many of the factors important to the control of risk.

There is a danger in the search for good practice of looking only at those schools with good academic records.

These premises are often inadequate to support good practice .

This week, for example, the permanent secretaries of all government departments will meet to discuss best practice in procurement.

man's best friend

sb had better/best do sth

sb knows best

send your love/regards/best wishes etc

He sends his best wishes to everybody at home.

Mr Mason sends his best wishes for the success of the event.

the best medicine

Laughter is the best medicine .

A former teacher at Longlands College, Middlesbrough, Pat always believes in laughter as the best medicine for loneliness.

Besides, it is the best medicine .

Having Louella come and live with me will be the best medicine in the world.

Recovery is the best medicine for the market, but it must be sustainable.

the best/better part of sth

Almost any child will assert that recess is the best part of the school day.

Another child makes the family wretched with his crying for the better part of an hour.

Converse drank the better part of the rum.

For the better part of the next forty years they were to be the decisive restraints.

I spent the better part of my time moping around the house, too dejected to think about practicing my stunts.

It is not widely taught or particularly popular be-cause it takes the better part of a lifetime to master.

This was it, the confrontation-point which he had been dreading for the best part of a week.

the best/biggest etc ... of all time

And seeing as it was my brainchild, would you not say it was possibly the best commercial of all time ?

Surely the biggest robbery of all time was the $ 900m that the Dome stole from lottery funds?

That's the biggest understatement of all time !

You could call that round the biggest fluke of all time ....

the best/biggest etc ... this side of sth

the best/greatest thing since sliced bread

Now, I didn't get it because I was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

the best/pick of the bunch

But me third was the best of the bunch .

Either they are one of the best of the bunch at home, or they make their name abroad.

Even these modest broadcasts show only the best of the bunch .

He may be the best of the bunch .

It's also the best of the bunch for multi-processing, he says.

Nevertheless as an introduction it is the best of the bunch .

Woolwich is the best of the bunch , trading at a multiple to future earnings of 10.3.

the next best thing

He can't ask them, so he is doing the next best thing.

I guess they figured calling their game Arnie was the next best thing to having a blockbusting movie title.

It is the next best thing to crossing the deserts of the world oneself.

The new switch is the next best thing we could do to moving.

The room is the next best thing to being outside.

Video may seem like the next best thing to being there, but electronically mediated interactions are different from real-life meetings.

We do, however, have the next best thing: a place to go for more information.

We went to the bookshelves to find the next best thing.

think the best/worst of sb

Ellie's the type of person that always thinks the best of people.

He thought the worst of Mitch and clearly thought that left to herself she would ring London at once.

I was so ready to think the worst of him, she wailed inwardly.

My immediate reaction, whether it be a man or a woman, is to think the worst of them.

The prospect of Guy leaving, thinking the worst of her, was unbearable.

Why should you think the worst of me?

You always think the worst of me.

to the best of your ability

All the children competed and performed to the best of their ability .

I have always done my work to the best of my ability .

trump/best/strongest card

And perhaps it was time to play the trump card up his sleeve.

In the struggle for development, every economy has certain advantages or trump cards .

Parents must recognize that if a child does not want to do homework, the child holds the trump card .

That night, though, our sincerity was our trump card .

That was why Gorbachev wanted to negotiate-and that is why, in my opinion, President Reagan was holding the trump card .

The citizens of Hebron, by contrast, hold all the trump cards .

This was one of the trump cards of News International in its dispute with the print workers in 1986-87.

We had beaten him, but he played a final trump card .

vote sth a success/the best etc

But they will be in costume, and all party goers will have a chance to vote on the best disguise.

They also voted the Cappuccino the best sub-£20,000 sports car in the show.

wish sb (the best of) luck

But had we sat down with her, we would have wished her good luck .

Everyone wished each other good luck and Mould, Matron and Endill headed off to the library.

I wish him luck and hope that after a couple of years he is transferred back!

James wished me good luck and dashed off home.

Lineker and Paul Gascoigne have both been in touch with Spurs to wish them good luck for the new season.

She wishes me luck , opens the door to the bathroom, and disappears into a cloud of steam.

Well, I wish you luck .

Yet at the start of the day both sides had wished each other luck .

with the best will in the world

And, David, with the best will in the world, you can't teach him.

Even with the best will in the world, we could not do it.

your Sunday best

your best bet

For getting around the city centre, a bicycle's your best bet .

We decided that our best bet was to leave him where he was and go and get help.

Well, your best bet would be to go back to Highway 218 and turn left.

your best bib and tucker

your/her/my etc Sunday best

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

I've read most of his books, but 'Mosquito Coast' is easily his best .

It was by far the best vacation I've ever had.

Probably the best thing to do is to drop me off outside.

Terry is the best player on our team.

The best ice cream in the world is made in Italy.

What's the best way to cook sweet potatoes?

What's the best way to get to El Paso?

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

And the best way to cross the bridge is neither by bus nor car but by foot.

Front forces, in particular, lost a very high percentage of their best men in 1968.

He had built a big new house in the valley, beside the best clay for making good hard bricks.

In 1972 he had suggested independence as Ulster's best course and been severely criticized by Paisley and others.

Risking everything, Saskia auditions for the position of best friend with a dazzling burst of literary fantasies.

This is a 19-inch device and is the best in the group on picture quality alone.

II. adverb

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ ADJECTIVE

known

One of the best known is Richard Long.

Pat Young is one of the province's best known fashion mavericks.

Even among the biggest and best known firms, financial performance is becoming more important in separating sheep from goats.

The best known of them was Dornford Yates, author of the now unreadable but once hugely read Berry and Co stories.

The topic of sexism in language is probably the best known of all feminist linguistic concerns.

The Trustee Savings Banks were one of the best known of such institutions.

Karpov is the best known of the contestants.

■ VERB

achieve

Educating young people to drink responsibly and in moderation is best achieved by parents setting a good example.

This is best achieved by personal contact.

Removal of water salts from fine sediments is best achieved using dialysis.

It was generally accepted that this was best achieved by attacking enemy tactical aircraft on their airfields.

The intellect merely helps us choose the means by which we may best achieve ends dictated by our instincts.

A stable economy is best achieved by ensuring a steady and low rate of growth in the money supply. 4.

avoid

Generally speaking, one is best avoiding the middle colour tones as they will not blend well with the flowers.

Experience showed that the extremes were best avoided .

Excessive quantities of dairy products, refined sugars and raw foods would be best avoided , with the emphasis on excessive.

Unless they are quite brilliant, jokes are best avoided in essays.

It's fine walking country in any weather, though it's probably best avoided on Bank Holidays and summer Sundays.

Any activity that causes the same physical emotional feelings as the particular addictive behaviour would be best avoided .

All stable vices, such as cribbing or weaving, are best avoided .

Special anti-condensation and anti-fungicide paints are available, but they contain a range of harmful chemicals and are best avoided .

describe

The last two really best describe the futility from the title.

And, in a season best described as wacky, Frieder might have yet another surprise.

Heskey, having bounded off the bench, was struck by what is best described as Fowler's Disease.

The algorithm used is best described by considering an example.

The consequences are best described by Bismarck himself.

The photograph best describes the elegance and practicality of this feature.

The objectives and criteria of success of any training scheme are best described in system terms.

explain

These unfolding events are best explained by a close look at factory economics.

The difference between the average and marginal tax rates illustrated in Exhibit 2. 2 may be best explained by an example.

The nature of the variable is best explained by reference to the relevant descriptors in Table 8.2.

Modern functionalist approaches continue to emphasize that state intervention is best explained by an impersonal logic of the development of advanced capitalism.

The idea of a selfish herd is W. D. Hamilton's, and is perhaps best explained by his own imaginary example.

And surely they are best explained in terms of how these special motives come about?

However, unlike Skinner, Piaget believed that development is best explained by describing the ways in which children understand such relations.

The difficulty is best explained by contrast with a eukaryotic species - for example the house mouse, Mus musculus.

fit

It is therefore Mitchell's study which best fits the general argument being developed here.

Allen and Burton now argue that, at least as far as their observational data are concerned, the projectile model best fits the facts.

The form by which the dialogue is represented is the one that best fits the mood and subject of the dialogue.

I am not expert enough to say which of the banding systems best fits the bill.

The chosen option must be the one which best fits the forecast cost for the total project.

But one of them may be the sort of book you feel you are best fitted to write.

The elaborate songs of male birds clearly fit best a manipulatory interpretation.

illustrate

The next phase is best illustrated by statues from Attica.

This type of analysis is best illustrated by the following specific example.

We can best illustrate this with two absurd examples.

This is best illustrated by considering the flow of information through the various stages of recognition, as shown in Figure 3.1.

Just how great the change has been is perhaps best illustrated by reference to the number of daily commuters into London.

The difference is best illustrated by a case example.

The point is best illustrated by reference to specific examples under the existing United Kingdom constitution.

know

Fathers know best , don't they?

But she is best known as one of the Sumerian demons of storm and night.

Now he is known best for writing and talking a good match.

The ground floor is best known for its unique collection of antique dolls' houses dating back to 1673.

And yet the deed for which he is best known needed no-courage at all, no effort, even.

Unfortunately, order number 7532 had not been met, due to problems best known to the Computex production engineer.

leave

This work is best left to a professional builder, with experience of altering and renovating chimneys and flues.

Hedgerow briars are best left for walking sticks.

Serious Maintenance is best left to the professionals but here are three simple things you can do for yourself.

Fixing mirrors to ceilings requires some skill and knowledge, and is probably best left to a glazier.

It may need to be tailor-made, and therefore it's best left to the experts.

The classic reds of Bordeaux are best left until at least a decade after the vintage date printed on the label.

Who hear swear with good nature? Best leave alone, keep silent.

Not surprisingly, they told us it's best left to professional fund-raisers.

like

These cover the whole range of moods and the customer selects the one she likes best .

The thing I liked best about Teravainen was that he was consumed with factual accuracy.

And I said I wished I could go and sniff the various scents to see which I liked best .

What I liked best about Happy was that she had no father.

What he'd like best is to stay in bed on Father's Day.

What I like best is to talk to fellow artists.

I'd have liked best of all to have stuffed his mouth with hay.

Mervyn liked best to work alone, in the open air, and was very observant.

place

The breeder is best placed to advise you.

Smaller plants are best placed in tanks together with the stones on which they are growing.

Savage Orc Shamans are best placed with units of Savage Orcs where their protective tattoos will be enhanced.

regard

Minor movements of less than a hundred metres or so are probably best regarded as interruptions in one main cycle.

Such laws, although sometimes run together with causal laws, are best regarded as otherwise.

remember

The Dean's annual sit-out, for which he will be best remembered , this year raised a staggering £400,000.

She is best remembered for extinguishing a blazing fire by making the sign of the cross.

He will be best remembered for the flair he brought to the Arsenal side that won the league in 1989 and 1991.

It is well known that we remember best what comes first and what comes last in any period of study or reading.

Gielgud will be best remembered for a series of radical interpretations and performances in Shakespearean roles.

My flower - the one that I remember best out of many - was gathered where I said it had been.

serve

Mr Gergen will best serve his new boss if he reminds him of the strengths of one of his old ones.

He suggested that people's interests are best served by pursuing personal gains.

This in itself raises issues of how the information infrastructure can best serve two models at once.

A succession of situations each one more impossible than the last, may be what will best serve you.

We are best served by being very good in a relatively narrow field.

To best serve patients' needs, care givers must be realistic in their expectations.

Salami are best served as an antipasto, in sandwiches, with salads or eaten with a little cheese and fresh crusty bread.

Whose purposes are best served by the commodification of people and place in area advertising?

suit

The mathematical singularity arises because the set of coordinates imposed everywhere is best suited to regions of small curvature.

And although many people claim that dictation is best suited for Perry Mason reruns, dictation does have some benefits.

What sort of person would be best suited ?

If I were a free agent, those are the places I would go, a place best suited for my needs.

However, this is purely a matter of experimentation and discovering what best suits your method of working.

This is actually the simplest form of meditation and is best suited to the beginner.

The matrix approach is best suited for complex projects which require the simultaneous efforts of experts from several disciplines.

The activity holidays on offer are really best suited to groups.

understand

The present system of bargaining and control is therefore best understood by tracing its origins and developments.

The concept of liberalism in the United States is best understood as a very limited version of democratic socialism.

Holism is probably best understood in terms of its opposite-individualism.

This is best understood by doing some exercises without any knitting on the machine.

This is the oldest system and probably the best understood by most people whatever their backgrounds.

Fitness differences are best understood as reproductive expectancy differences analogous to normalized life expectancy differences.

We can best understand the nature of societies and the ways in which they change by investigating the relations between practices.

use

They are best used for cocktail savouries, but the cheaper mussels make a very tasty pasta sauce.

They are best used for planting in garden pools and the like.

The struggle for existence is a term best used in a large and metaphorical sense.

Sea salt is usually available in coarse or fine grades and is best used from a salt mill as a condiment.

Woks are best used over a gas flame.

This adventure book is best used with experienced players.

It is best used after being steeped in water for a few hours.

Percussion Like brass instruments, percussion is best used sparingly and occasionally.

wish

We send you and your dear wife best wishes for the New Year.

So best wishes to Rosalind, the Society's most northerly teacher.

work

We made the non-slip surfaces by stippling the tops with a bass broom - a fairly new one works best .

They work best massed into a mob.

Two operators work best when the first starts to apply chemical while the other assembles the machine and gets it running.

The essay works best when it is dealing with people; and most of these are biographical sketches.

Researchers have argued consistently that a coherent approach is needed to finding the type of intervention which works best for which children.

While some students work best with their peers, their classmates might benefit more from the personal attention of their teacher.

They usually work best in conjunction with the two senses we can record, sound and sight.

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

at your best/worst/most effective etc

be on your best behaviour

Dinner was very formal, with everyone on their best behaviour .

And if what Cadfael suspected was indeed true, he had now good reason to be on his best behaviour .

But everyone is on their best behaviour .

So when we arrived hopefully at Loch Hope that morning, I was on my best behaviour .

Use only our own girls and warn them to be on their best behaviour .

be sb's last/only/best hope

Advocates just seem to take it on faith that annexation is the only hope of salvation for this city.

But mad or not, you are my only hope , Meg.

But Thomas Sachs was now her only hope .

I expected to be disappointed, though the letter was now my only hope .

In the long term, Mr Heseltine said that privatisation was the only hope for the industry.

Is he only hoping to make money?

Robert Urquhart was her only hope , her only ally.

That was the only hope I had of reaching the doctor.

best/good/warmest etc wishes

A former miner, Joe was presented with a cheque together with good wishes for a long and happy retirement.

And while babies are on my mind, my best wishes to Patsy Kensit on the birth of her son.

Meanwhile, may I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and best wishes for the coming year.

My best wishes to Madame Zborowska and warm greetings to you.

Our best wishes to his family and friends.

She hadn't deserved their kindness, their good wishes - she'd hardly been a boon companion of late.

Spare me your shock and good wishes .

With best wishes for success and prosperity.

best/well/ideally/perfectly etc suited to/for sth

Boar chops are best suited to grilling or sauteing.

If I were a free agent, those are the places I would go, a place best suited for my needs.

It is not however so well suited to an intensive, detailed study of spoken language.

Nevertheless, it is an early maturing variety well suited to the long ripening period of a northern wine region.

Secondly, the adversary nature of the adjudicative process may not be well suited to this area.

The farmer's wife was well suited to tackling this considerable undertaking.

Use the systems best suited to their talent, both offensively and defensively.

We have large quantities of plutonium already separated and in forms ideally suited for nuclear weapons.

bring out the best/worst in sb

Ingram always seems to bring out the best in his players.

And Vince was obviously a great coach; he brought out the best in his team and whoever played him.

But the Washington Wizards have a way of bringing out the best in their opponents.

But, says Markert, there is something about one-way communication that can also bring out the worst in people.

Campaigns seem to bring out the worst in Bob Dole.

It brings out the best in us.

Maybe something like they tend to bring out the best in us.

So, to bring out the best in your cooking make sure you use the purest soy sauce, Kikkoman Soy Sauce.

Yet it was not an unsuccessful attempt to bring out the best in his audience.

come off best/better/worst etc

Alec Davidson, for example, was one of those who came off worst.

Bullock comes off best because her complaining seems so valid.

His foster-child comes off best, but in addition each of two nurses receives a tenth of his estate.

It may seem, so far, that in terms of clearly defined benefits, the client comes off best out of the deal.

Prior to that Meath had come off best when they accounted for Down in the 1990 league decider.

The lightning, it seemed to Lydia, had undoubtedly come off best in that encounter.

The problem is that history sometimes comes off better.

do your level best (to do sth)

Even so he did his level best with the new ball.

We did our level best to look fascinated.

easily the best/biggest etc

Aluminium benching is easily the best, as it virtually lasts for ever and is easily cleaned.

He's easily the best military brain in the country.

It's easily the best Fermanagh side I've played on.

It gave easily the best value.

Johnny Hero played the between set music - again proving that he hosts easily the best disco in town.

Natural gas forms easily the biggest world reserve of methane-rich fuel.

The greens were easily the best part of the dish.

The pension is easily the biggest single cash benefit.

give sth your best shot

I'm not promising I'll succeed, but I'll give it my best shot .

Hopefully he can recover and regain his test place and give it his best shot .

I'd have given it my best shot , and that was all anyone could demand from me.

I just have a feeling that we have given it our best shot .

The band gave it their best shot , until the arrival of the blue meanies put an end to the proceedings.

You were never entirely safe from prying fingers in Chinatown, but I had to give it my best shot .

good luck/best of luck

Best of luck with your driving test.

Good luck Archie! Enjoy your new job.

good/best/bad practice

An annex citing examples of good practice would also be helpful.

Carlesimo said Tuesday, adding that Marshall had just put in his best practice of camp.

It is good practice to make a note of the client's telephone number on the file.

Supporters of those with special needs should be exemplars of such good practice .

The good practice presented in Table 2 and Appendix 3 addresses many of the factors important to the control of risk.

There is a danger in the search for good practice of looking only at those schools with good academic records.

These premises are often inadequate to support good practice .

This week, for example, the permanent secretaries of all government departments will meet to discuss best practice in procurement.

man's best friend

personal best

But I still ran 20.51 seconds for a personal best, so I was happy.

Conrad Allen came up trumps again, finishing fourth in the boys 800 metres in a personal best 2 mins. 22.

Fredericks' 19. 68 was 0. 14 seconds lower than his personal best.

His personal best before this season was 10. 08.

I next ran at Oslo where I set a personal best for 200 metres, so that was encouraging.

Ron and I take each year as it comes and we always plan for me to run a personal best every season.

Sammy also collected a 50 freestyle bronze with 31.44-a personal best along with her 43.95 in the 50 breaststroke.

That means that their motives are clean and their actions represent their personal best.

sb had better/best do sth

sb knows best

send your love/regards/best wishes etc

He sends his best wishes to everybody at home.

Mr Mason sends his best wishes for the success of the event.

the best medicine

Laughter is the best medicine .

A former teacher at Longlands College, Middlesbrough, Pat always believes in laughter as the best medicine for loneliness.

Besides, it is the best medicine .

Having Louella come and live with me will be the best medicine in the world.

Recovery is the best medicine for the market, but it must be sustainable.

the best/better part of sth

Almost any child will assert that recess is the best part of the school day.

Another child makes the family wretched with his crying for the better part of an hour.

Converse drank the better part of the rum.

For the better part of the next forty years they were to be the decisive restraints.

I spent the better part of my time moping around the house, too dejected to think about practicing my stunts.

It is not widely taught or particularly popular be-cause it takes the better part of a lifetime to master.

This was it, the confrontation-point which he had been dreading for the best part of a week.

the best/biggest etc ... of all time

And seeing as it was my brainchild, would you not say it was possibly the best commercial of all time ?

Surely the biggest robbery of all time was the $ 900m that the Dome stole from lottery funds?

That's the biggest understatement of all time !

You could call that round the biggest fluke of all time ....

the best/biggest etc ... this side of sth

the best/biggest/fastest etc possible

Any successful entrepreneurial venture starts with making sure that the entrepreneur is in the best possible mental and physical health.

But the psychologist was never confident that he had obtained the best possible scores from Nelson.

For a moment, I imagined the best possible to the worst possible reply.

Obviously, the purpose is to ensure that the best possible pensions arrangements are reached.

That way it will have the best possible start in life.

The additional value farmers receive is the best possible free advice on both inputs and marketing.

The horrifying news sent the Ciprianos on a nationwide search to find the best possible treatment for their daughter.

This at once enhances the contribution which the court or parents can make towards reaching the best possible decision in all the circumstances.

the best/greatest thing since sliced bread

Now, I didn't get it because I was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

the best/pick of the bunch

But me third was the best of the bunch .

Either they are one of the best of the bunch at home, or they make their name abroad.

Even these modest broadcasts show only the best of the bunch .

He may be the best of the bunch .

It's also the best of the bunch for multi-processing, he says.

Nevertheless as an introduction it is the best of the bunch .

Woolwich is the best of the bunch , trading at a multiple to future earnings of 10.3.

the biggest/best/nicest etc sth going

A few hundred metres off-shore we congregate so that Tor can explain the best way of going ashore.

Are the best bargains going to petrol buyers?

But in those years, they were always the team with the best record going into the playoffs.

Its got to be the best ticket office going .

Perhaps the biggest thing going was the harp played by JoAnn Turovsky, sounding positively, well, huge.

There was a wide range of scores with the best individual score going to George McCallum of Douglas Reyburn with 37 points.

This, so I was led to believe, was the best it was going to get.

What is the best way of going forward? - Ideas from within I hear you say!

the next best thing

He can't ask them, so he is doing the next best thing.

I guess they figured calling their game Arnie was the next best thing to having a blockbusting movie title.

It is the next best thing to crossing the deserts of the world oneself.

The new switch is the next best thing we could do to moving.

The room is the next best thing to being outside.

Video may seem like the next best thing to being there, but electronically mediated interactions are different from real-life meetings.

We do, however, have the next best thing: a place to go for more information.

We went to the bookshelves to find the next best thing.

think the best/worst of sb

Ellie's the type of person that always thinks the best of people.

He thought the worst of Mitch and clearly thought that left to herself she would ring London at once.

I was so ready to think the worst of him, she wailed inwardly.

My immediate reaction, whether it be a man or a woman, is to think the worst of them.

The prospect of Guy leaving, thinking the worst of her, was unbearable.

Why should you think the worst of me?

You always think the worst of me.

to the best of your ability

All the children competed and performed to the best of their ability .

I have always done my work to the best of my ability .

trump/best/strongest card

And perhaps it was time to play the trump card up his sleeve.

In the struggle for development, every economy has certain advantages or trump cards .

Parents must recognize that if a child does not want to do homework, the child holds the trump card .

That night, though, our sincerity was our trump card .

That was why Gorbachev wanted to negotiate-and that is why, in my opinion, President Reagan was holding the trump card .

The citizens of Hebron, by contrast, hold all the trump cards .

This was one of the trump cards of News International in its dispute with the print workers in 1986-87.

We had beaten him, but he played a final trump card .

vote sth a success/the best etc

But they will be in costume, and all party goers will have a chance to vote on the best disguise.

They also voted the Cappuccino the best sub-£20,000 sports car in the show.

wish sb (the best of) luck

But had we sat down with her, we would have wished her good luck .

Everyone wished each other good luck and Mould, Matron and Endill headed off to the library.

I wish him luck and hope that after a couple of years he is transferred back!

James wished me good luck and dashed off home.

Lineker and Paul Gascoigne have both been in touch with Spurs to wish them good luck for the new season.

She wishes me luck , opens the door to the bathroom, and disappears into a cloud of steam.

Well, I wish you luck .

Yet at the start of the day both sides had wished each other luck .

with the best will in the world

And, David, with the best will in the world, you can't teach him.

Even with the best will in the world, we could not do it.

your Sunday best

your best bet

For getting around the city centre, a bicycle's your best bet .

We decided that our best bet was to leave him where he was and go and get help.

Well, your best bet would be to go back to Highway 218 and turn left.

your best bib and tucker

your/her/my etc Sunday best

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

I've met him a few times but Helen knows him best .

It was the best -organized conference I've ever attended.

Our new spring dresses have a look that can best be described as neat yet casual.

The judges liked the pumpkin pie from Gayle's Bakery best .

Try a few different skis and boots to see what works best for you.

What kind of wine do you like best ?

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

Joe is, of course, best remembered as the first professional to overcome what had grown into a hoodoo.

State which method would fit in best with healthy eating guidelines and explain why.

The concept of liberalism in the United States is best understood as a very limited version of democratic socialism.

This is best reflected in the demise of the Yiddish-language press in New York.

III. noun

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

The best is not always the most expensive.

The acoustics in the auditorium weren't the best , but the audience didn't care.

IV. verb

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

at your best/worst/most effective etc

be on your best behaviour

Dinner was very formal, with everyone on their best behaviour .

And if what Cadfael suspected was indeed true, he had now good reason to be on his best behaviour .

But everyone is on their best behaviour .

So when we arrived hopefully at Loch Hope that morning, I was on my best behaviour .

Use only our own girls and warn them to be on their best behaviour .

be sb's last/only/best hope

Advocates just seem to take it on faith that annexation is the only hope of salvation for this city.

But mad or not, you are my only hope , Meg.

But Thomas Sachs was now her only hope .

I expected to be disappointed, though the letter was now my only hope .

In the long term, Mr Heseltine said that privatisation was the only hope for the industry.

Is he only hoping to make money?

Robert Urquhart was her only hope , her only ally.

That was the only hope I had of reaching the doctor.

best/good/warmest etc wishes

A former miner, Joe was presented with a cheque together with good wishes for a long and happy retirement.

And while babies are on my mind, my best wishes to Patsy Kensit on the birth of her son.

Meanwhile, may I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and best wishes for the coming year.

My best wishes to Madame Zborowska and warm greetings to you.

Our best wishes to his family and friends.

She hadn't deserved their kindness, their good wishes - she'd hardly been a boon companion of late.

Spare me your shock and good wishes .

With best wishes for success and prosperity.

do your level best (to do sth)

Even so he did his level best with the new ball.

We did our level best to look fascinated.

easily the best/biggest etc

Aluminium benching is easily the best, as it virtually lasts for ever and is easily cleaned.

He's easily the best military brain in the country.

It's easily the best Fermanagh side I've played on.

It gave easily the best value.

Johnny Hero played the between set music - again proving that he hosts easily the best disco in town.

Natural gas forms easily the biggest world reserve of methane-rich fuel.

The greens were easily the best part of the dish.

The pension is easily the biggest single cash benefit.

give sth your best shot

I'm not promising I'll succeed, but I'll give it my best shot .

Hopefully he can recover and regain his test place and give it his best shot .

I'd have given it my best shot , and that was all anyone could demand from me.

I just have a feeling that we have given it our best shot .

The band gave it their best shot , until the arrival of the blue meanies put an end to the proceedings.

You were never entirely safe from prying fingers in Chinatown, but I had to give it my best shot .

good luck/best of luck

Best of luck with your driving test.

Good luck Archie! Enjoy your new job.

good/best/bad practice

An annex citing examples of good practice would also be helpful.

Carlesimo said Tuesday, adding that Marshall had just put in his best practice of camp.

It is good practice to make a note of the client's telephone number on the file.

Supporters of those with special needs should be exemplars of such good practice .

The good practice presented in Table 2 and Appendix 3 addresses many of the factors important to the control of risk.

There is a danger in the search for good practice of looking only at those schools with good academic records.

These premises are often inadequate to support good practice .

This week, for example, the permanent secretaries of all government departments will meet to discuss best practice in procurement.

man's best friend

personal best

But I still ran 20.51 seconds for a personal best, so I was happy.

Conrad Allen came up trumps again, finishing fourth in the boys 800 metres in a personal best 2 mins. 22.

Fredericks' 19. 68 was 0. 14 seconds lower than his personal best.

His personal best before this season was 10. 08.

I next ran at Oslo where I set a personal best for 200 metres, so that was encouraging.

Ron and I take each year as it comes and we always plan for me to run a personal best every season.

Sammy also collected a 50 freestyle bronze with 31.44-a personal best along with her 43.95 in the 50 breaststroke.

That means that their motives are clean and their actions represent their personal best.

sb had better/best do sth

the best medicine

Laughter is the best medicine .

A former teacher at Longlands College, Middlesbrough, Pat always believes in laughter as the best medicine for loneliness.

Besides, it is the best medicine .

Having Louella come and live with me will be the best medicine in the world.

Recovery is the best medicine for the market, but it must be sustainable.

the best/better part of sth

Almost any child will assert that recess is the best part of the school day.

Another child makes the family wretched with his crying for the better part of an hour.

Converse drank the better part of the rum.

For the better part of the next forty years they were to be the decisive restraints.

I spent the better part of my time moping around the house, too dejected to think about practicing my stunts.

It is not widely taught or particularly popular be-cause it takes the better part of a lifetime to master.

This was it, the confrontation-point which he had been dreading for the best part of a week.

the best/biggest etc ... of all time

And seeing as it was my brainchild, would you not say it was possibly the best commercial of all time ?

Surely the biggest robbery of all time was the $ 900m that the Dome stole from lottery funds?

That's the biggest understatement of all time !

You could call that round the biggest fluke of all time ....

the best/biggest etc ... this side of sth

the best/biggest/fastest etc possible

Any successful entrepreneurial venture starts with making sure that the entrepreneur is in the best possible mental and physical health.

But the psychologist was never confident that he had obtained the best possible scores from Nelson.

For a moment, I imagined the best possible to the worst possible reply.

Obviously, the purpose is to ensure that the best possible pensions arrangements are reached.

That way it will have the best possible start in life.

The additional value farmers receive is the best possible free advice on both inputs and marketing.

The horrifying news sent the Ciprianos on a nationwide search to find the best possible treatment for their daughter.

This at once enhances the contribution which the court or parents can make towards reaching the best possible decision in all the circumstances.

the best/greatest thing since sliced bread

Now, I didn't get it because I was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

the best/pick of the bunch

But me third was the best of the bunch .

Either they are one of the best of the bunch at home, or they make their name abroad.

Even these modest broadcasts show only the best of the bunch .

He may be the best of the bunch .

It's also the best of the bunch for multi-processing, he says.

Nevertheless as an introduction it is the best of the bunch .

Woolwich is the best of the bunch , trading at a multiple to future earnings of 10.3.

the biggest/best/nicest etc sth going

A few hundred metres off-shore we congregate so that Tor can explain the best way of going ashore.

Are the best bargains going to petrol buyers?

But in those years, they were always the team with the best record going into the playoffs.

Its got to be the best ticket office going .

Perhaps the biggest thing going was the harp played by JoAnn Turovsky, sounding positively, well, huge.

There was a wide range of scores with the best individual score going to George McCallum of Douglas Reyburn with 37 points.

This, so I was led to believe, was the best it was going to get.

What is the best way of going forward? - Ideas from within I hear you say!

the next best thing

He can't ask them, so he is doing the next best thing.

I guess they figured calling their game Arnie was the next best thing to having a blockbusting movie title.

It is the next best thing to crossing the deserts of the world oneself.

The new switch is the next best thing we could do to moving.

The room is the next best thing to being outside.

Video may seem like the next best thing to being there, but electronically mediated interactions are different from real-life meetings.

We do, however, have the next best thing: a place to go for more information.

We went to the bookshelves to find the next best thing.

to the best of your ability

All the children competed and performed to the best of their ability .

I have always done my work to the best of my ability .

trump/best/strongest card

And perhaps it was time to play the trump card up his sleeve.

In the struggle for development, every economy has certain advantages or trump cards .

Parents must recognize that if a child does not want to do homework, the child holds the trump card .

That night, though, our sincerity was our trump card .

That was why Gorbachev wanted to negotiate-and that is why, in my opinion, President Reagan was holding the trump card .

The citizens of Hebron, by contrast, hold all the trump cards .

This was one of the trump cards of News International in its dispute with the print workers in 1986-87.

We had beaten him, but he played a final trump card .

wish sb (the best of) luck

But had we sat down with her, we would have wished her good luck .

Everyone wished each other good luck and Mould, Matron and Endill headed off to the library.

I wish him luck and hope that after a couple of years he is transferred back!

James wished me good luck and dashed off home.

Lineker and Paul Gascoigne have both been in touch with Spurs to wish them good luck for the new season.

She wishes me luck , opens the door to the bathroom, and disappears into a cloud of steam.

Well, I wish you luck .

Yet at the start of the day both sides had wished each other luck .

with the best will in the world

And, David, with the best will in the world, you can't teach him.

Even with the best will in the world, we could not do it.

your Sunday best

your best bet

For getting around the city centre, a bicycle's your best bet .

We decided that our best bet was to leave him where he was and go and get help.

Well, your best bet would be to go back to Highway 218 and turn left.

your best bib and tucker

your/her/my etc Sunday best

Longman DOCE5 Extras English vocabulary.      Дополнительный английский словарь Longman DOCE5.