I. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a bill goes through parliament (= it goes through the process of being made a law )
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The bill is currently going through Parliament.
a bill is passed by parliament (= it is made into a law )
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The bill was passed by Parliament last May.
a fuel bill
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Insulating your house will cut your fuel bill.
a gas bill (= a bill you have to pay for gas you have used )
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Household gas bills have increased dramatically.
a phone bill (= a bill for phone calls )
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Our last phone bill was huge.
an electricity bill (= a bill you have to pay for electricity you have used )
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I pay my electricity bill by direct debit.
an energy bill
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We are looking at ways of cutting our energy bill.
bill of exchange
bill of fare
bill of lading
bill of rights
bill of sale
double bill
padding...bills
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padding the bills of Medicare patients
pass a law/bill/act
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The first Transport Act was passed in 1907.
private member's bill
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
clean
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The influential Bell study gave them largely a clean bill of health as a model for determining disputes concerning entitlement to benefit.
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And with a clean bill of health, Granato is promising to be same kind of performer he always was.
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A clean bill of health has certainly helped, while the catches, crucially, have been sticking.
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If the ship was given a clean bill of health, Customs Officials went on board.
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They gave it a clean bill of health.
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Charles ended up with a clean bill of health and a parking ticket.
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Still, clean bills of health come easily from an impoverished medical system that revolves around pseudo-medicine and bribes.
double
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But sometimes a double bill would show at the Ritz and nowhere else.
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He guessed they were on their way to Badstoneleigh because of the double bill at the Pavilion.
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A double bill in the afternoon.
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In the early 1960s one result of shrinking cinema audiences was the Sunday double bill of low budget horror movies.
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Now that's a double bill .
private
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Nevertheless, some private members' bills have been important and become a focus for public attention.
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A private member's bill to effect this change was brought forward in late February, 1925.
■ NOUN
dollar
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Gomez slid three one-thousand dollar bills from the wallet.
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Co., which makes the stock that dollar bills are printed on.
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He rolls up a dollar bill , and stares at it as if deliberately recalling something.
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Open, it yielded a few dollar bills .
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I got an autographed dollar bill and Viral Hepatitis I started bullying her.
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Once, he even found a twenty dollar bill .
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He hands over one crisp dollar bill and 40,000 sucres in coins and stained notes.
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No, there was no wallet with dollar bills .
electricity
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On this the farm worker is most scathing: fresh air does not pay his electricity bill .
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Margaret had discovered the address from an electricity bill she had found in the laundry.
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Voice over Okan, a production engineer, has seen his collection of reptiles grow as has his electricity bill .
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People who are behind with their electricity bills could find themselves restricted to a consumption of as little as one kilowatt.
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Charges cut ELECTRICITY bills are to be cut by one percent from April.
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So lots of tanks, thousands of fish - and huge electricity bills ?
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If you're worried about electricity bills , turn the monitor off at the end of the day.
fuel
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Grants are not available to pay for fuel bills .
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There are ways of paying your fuel bills which make budgeting a lot easier.
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Like the Picasso, it has five seats, so why put up with the added weight and bigger fuel bills ?
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You won't notice the difference, but will save 10% on fuel bill .
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The system can pinpoint individuals if fuel bills and maintenance charges fall outside the average for their type of car.
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They had to take out a loan to pay their last fuel bill .
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Two-thirds of the total cited heating and fuel bills in particular as being more expensive than they had anticipated.
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In its condensing mode, the unit achieves up to 95% efficiency, contributing to reduced fuel bills .
gas
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If the Government won't boost pensions, can't it help with gas bills and the like?
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I got the gas bill and the bill for electricity.
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You think to yourself, yes I could get the kids shoes or pay the gas bill .
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However, increasing water, electricity and gas bills are adding to production cost pressures, the association says.
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She followed her last winter gas bill with a decision to turn off several heaters.
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What she couldn't understand was the more she shivered ... the higher the gas bills .
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Voice over Meanwhile downstairs neighbour Nikki Davies was delighted with her gas bills .
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You can use gas stamps to pay your electricity bill and electricity stamps to pay for your gas bill.
phone
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The phone rings, though, so it looks as if somebody pays the phone bills .
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You are required by the District Attorney to provide your phone bills , both business and personal.
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For example, competition could cut the size of phone bills and end the imposition of unreasonable bank charges on small businesses.
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Customers can pay by credit card or with their monthly phone bill starting next month.
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My phone bill can stand it!
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Pac Bell has sought to make amends with the Stinsons by agreeing to pay their cellular phone bill .
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He stayed for weeks, ran up astronomical phone bills , and then vanished.
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Is it not true that too many people have phone bills that are too high?
reform
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On March 19 it passed a regulatory reform bill , which is intended to lighten the weight of government on small businesses.
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The question is not whether a reform bill will pass but how strong it will be.
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For example, the House leadership may put the Senate welfare reform bill up for a vote.
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In 1859 Beresford headed a protest against the Derby ministry's reform bill but did not press his opposition to a vote.
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But many of the same provisions remain in the welfare reform bill signed by President Clinton last month.
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On Aug. 10 the Chamber of Deputies approved a state reform bill on privatization.
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Former colleagues tell me the bipartisan reform bill , sponsored by Sens.
tax
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That means that Londoners will face higher council tax bills .
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Parliament is scheduled to review the new tax bill tomorrow.
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Having recently paid a larger than expected tax bill , the account is currently empty.
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The results would then be totted up every year to produce a tax bill .
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With interest and penalties, the tax bill came to just under $ 25, 000.
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The cash was promised to local authorities in last year's budget to ease the impact of poll tax bills .
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The House version of the tax bill was 1, 379 pages long, the Senate version 1, 580 pages.
treasury
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Why would you expect the yield on treasury bills normally to be rather lower than on government bonds? 2.
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Investors holding ninety-day Treasury bills experience very small changes in the value of those bills as interest rates fluctuate.
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As the volume of Treasury bills declined in the 1970s the discount houses facilitated the rapid growth in the commercial bill market.
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During the same period, one-year Treasury bills produced an average annual return of 7. 5 percent.
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When college is two to three years away, put additional money into certificates of deposit or Treasury bills for safety.
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Calculate the issue price of a 91-day Treasury bill with a par value of 10,000 and a discount rate of 9 percent.
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The rate of return on short-term Treasury bills is highly responsive to inflation.
water
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In the past week or so householders throughout the country have been opening their April water bills and gaping.
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In addition to simple rage over the hike in water bills , other issues fueled the recall movement.
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Borders businesses are also likely to benefit as a 17 percent reduction in water bills is planned.
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The inequities in water bills -- due to the lack of lift charges -- are still with us, he noted.
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By militant diktat no Kashmiri pays income or sales tax nor electricity or water bills .
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Sewer rates, which are included on water bills , would not be affected.
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On the same day a water bill was approved which covered water-related projects in 17 western states.
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The city limits encompassed 91 square miles, and the water bill for the average household was $ 8.
welfare
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But the Republican governors recoiled from the prospect of reopening the welfare bill for anything.
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The current welfare bill includes money for day care.
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The president kept the Republicans from including Medicaid in the welfare bill .
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But the welfare bill has split the Democratic Party on the eve of its national convention in Chicago.
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The goal of the welfare bill is to devolve power and responsibilty to the states.
■ VERB
approve
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In November 1991 the House of Representatives had approved the bill by 409 votes to 21.
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The House has already approved an immigration bill that includes an amendment sponsored by Rep.
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On Dec. 30 the Majlis approved a bill allowing defendants the right to legal representation in court.
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The House will likely approve a single bill containing controls on both legal and illegal immigration.
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On Aug. 10 the Chamber of Deputies approved a state reform bill on privatization.
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Lawmakers approved a bill repealing the tax in 1979, but Gov.
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The Supreme Soviet failed twice more to approve the bill before the successful vote on May 20.
face
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That means that Londoners will face higher council tax bills .
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Against this income stream, Flynn faced mounting tuition bills , which averaged $ 29, 328 annually over 11 years.
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This left the couple facing a bill for professional costs through no fault of their own.
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If you own sale falls through you may face a hefty interest bill .
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He faces a total bill of £2,255.
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Now he faces the bill and mounting costs.
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Ratepayers face a £40, bill for the case brought against the council - and which it won.
fill
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It is the one construction which will fill the bill exactly.
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It just happened that Bobby filled the bill in this case.
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And certainly, Peter Weiss' Marat-Sade fills the bill for audience and company alike.
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In the end, only some form of income subsidy will fill that bill .
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In lieu of real out-of-town travel, Kingfisher fills the bill nicely.
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For many of these postindustrial wanderers, the primal quality of pentecostal worship seemed to fill the bill .
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Had she been a man, his dear friend Aspasia could have filled the bill .
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Luckily, Colossal still fills the bill .
fit
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John Bowes perfectly fits that bill .
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And the martini fits the bill ?
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A floral design with a Regency stripe background, for example, fits the bill perfectly.
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The martini perfectly fits the bill because of its simplicity.
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Many other jobs get handed out simply because a minister happens to know some one who might fit the bill .
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There were of course other ways in which Worldwide Plaza fit the bill very well.
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If you truly can not find a newsgroup that fits the bill , you can always start your own.
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On the surface, taxing international air travel fits the bill perfectly because it carries little apparent political pain.
foot
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But, though local firms contributed, the public still footed much of the bill .
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The National Science Foundation, which was footing the bill , decided to hire an independent contractor to complete the project.
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If taxpayers footed the bill , those costs might well be higher.
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If the project would cause damage, then the developer would have to foot the bill himself.
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It follows talks with some of the unhappy policyholders without guaranteed annuities who will have to foot some of the bill .
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The International Olympic Committee probably would foot the repair bill , and the international track federation would pay travel costs.
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Gloucestershire County Council is footing the bill .
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But the prospect of having to foot another bill for Aryanised assets has sparked some ugly reactions.
introduce
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In the autumn of 1984 I introduced a bill to bring the first pension reforms into effect.
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He introduced a bill to legalize abortion two years before Roe v. Wade.
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If the state bar decides against a complete ban, Miss Roybal-Allard may introduce a new bill requiring it to have one.
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Like many other states, Arizona has introduced bills to regulate HMOs in an effort to protect those enrolled in the plans.
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Though no progress was made when Henry Wilson introduced a bill in 1896, there was growing police backing for legislation.
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Y., has introduced a bill to ban federal funds from being spent on programs that teach ebonics as a language.
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At least 20 states have introduced bills to change that.
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The majority Nationalists introduced an alternative tax bill Tuesday to block the opposition bill.
pass
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On March 19 it passed a regulatory reform bill , which is intended to lighten the weight of government on small businesses.
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Soon after his announcement the House passed the bill , 328-101, and the Senate was expected to approve it Thursday.
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If passed the bill would effectively bar Hindus from converting mosques into temples.
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In 1994, the California legislature passed a bill to permit physicians to prescribe marijuana.
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The Michigan House of Representatives passed a bill on Dec. 8 requiring parental consent for unmarried girls under 18 to have abortions.
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Moreover, the most important legislation for bond market investors -- the 1996 budget bill -- has already been passed .
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Congress, pass my comprehensive crime bill .
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The Senate has passed a similar bill , which will be combined with the House version.
pay
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Now they have to spend their mornings planning budgets and their afternoons paying bills .
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Several pioneering journalists had taken this step and then paid the bill by writing self-congratulatory accounts of their daring.
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And the faithful still see annexation as one way to pay that bill -- and no proof it will work is required.
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Josie was sitting at the table with an open cheque book in front of her, paying bills .
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But something more was going on than just paying bills .
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There are ways of paying your fuel bills which make budgeting a lot easier.
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And then, it must figure out how to pay the bill .
send
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They just send the bill and the army pays.
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Republicans estimate this change would send monthly bills up by about $ 10 by 2002.
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Did the Handsome Prince send Rapunzel a bill for a cut and blow dry?
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The panel will try to smooth out differences between the measures, then send a final bill to both chambers for approval.
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It is too complicated to send large numbers of bills over to their accountant every day.
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The providers of those services would stay in private business but would no longer send bills to myriad insurers and government agencies.
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Darlington Borough Council staff have sent out more than 70,000 bills which are expected to arrive today and tomorrow.
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Then I sent in my bill .
settle
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Please that this letter as confirmation that Oxford University Press will be settling their bills for room and breakfast.
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It turned out he wanted me to settle my bill .
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But then there was nothing left to pay the drivers or to settle the mounting bills .
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But carrying large amounts of foreign currency to settle the bills is anything but a joy.
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When I got back he was at the cashier's desk settling the bill .
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I settled the bill - a pretty useful one, what with the line of brandies I had moodily consumed.
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You pick up your gear and you settle your bill .
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He settles all their Mess bills and buys them lavish presents.
sign
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Bush promised to sign the bill without delay.
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President Bush has indicated he would sign the bill .
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The captain then signs the bills of lading and precedes his signature with a statement that shipment is subject to charter party conditions.
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When he signed the bill , Clinton said he would fight this year to restore benefits for legal immigrants.
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Everything is signed Your bill is then settled the evening before you leave the ship.
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The center said the loan had a favorable interest rate and came two weeks after President Clinton signed a bill NationsBank supported.
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Governor William Donald Schaefer signed the bill into law within hours of its enactment by the House.
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But Clinton insisted those provisions be taken out before he signed the bill , she said.
top
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Tom Jones is topping the bill and among others, Joe Longthorne is guesting.
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Liberal chums tell me that old, white, military men top the bill .
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They're topping the bill in the Central Match Live which kicks off at ten to three.
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Pickled cucumbers and beetroot and horseradish sauce topped the bill .
veto
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The difference is that last year George Bush promised to veto the bill , and did so.
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Clinton vetoed the bill after being lobbied by trial lawyers, but Congress overrode the veto.
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The Republican governor, Arne Carlson, has promised to veto the bill .
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Clinton already has vetoed one farm bill contained in omnibus balanced-budget legislation.
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Accordingly, on Oct. 22, Bush carried out his threat to veto the bill .
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But if Clinton vetoes the spending bill because of other disagreements, the Headwaters purchase becomes far less certain this year.
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He denied allegations that a threatened boycott of Idaho potatoes by pro-choice advocates had influenced his decision to veto the bill .
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But Clinton said he vetoed that bill , partly because Republicans removed restrictions on corporate raids on pension funds.
vote
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Lawmakers initially had been scheduled to vote on the bill Friday, but postponed the balloting for lack of sufficient votes.
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But will he vote against the mastectomy bill ?
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John Vasconcellos, D-San Jose, voted for the bill while urging the state to follow through with a job-creation program.
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The education measure disturbed Bryant enough that he voted against the bill in its final form.
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Dole voted against the bill on the ground that it contained $ 5 billion in wasteful social spending.
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I will vote against the bill and I know there are others who will vote like me.
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Connie Mack, R-Fla., as the Senate voted 74-22 for the bill .
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a clean bill of health
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Three months after the operation, the doctors gave her a clean bill of health.
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And with a clean bill of health, Granato is promising to be same kind of performer he always was.
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Charles ended up with a clean bill of health and a parking ticket.
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If the ship was given a clean bill of health, Customs Officials went on board.
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The influential Bell study gave them largely a clean bill of health as a model for determining disputes concerning entitlement to benefit.
▪
They gave it a clean bill of health.
fill the bill
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And certainly, Peter Weiss' Marat-Sade fills the bill for audience and company alike.
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Another thing was that most of the Republicans who might have filled the bill lived in the suburbs.
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For many of these postindustrial wanderers, the primal quality of pentecostal worship seemed to fill the bill.
▪
Had she been a man, his dear friend Aspasia could have filled the bill.
▪
In lieu of real out-of-town travel, Kingfisher fills the bill nicely.
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It is the one construction which will fill the bill exactly.
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It just happened that Bobby filled the bill in this case.
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Luckily, Colossal still fills the bill.
fit the bill
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I need someone who can speak both French and Spanish. Do you know anyone who fits the bill?
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We know what kind of house we want, but we haven't yet found one that fits the bill.
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We wanted an experienced journalist, and Watts fit the bill.
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A floral design with a Regency stripe background, for example, fits the bill perfectly.
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And the martini fits the bill?
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But it also fits the bill because people could order their favorite liquor.
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Many other jobs get handed out simply because a minister happens to know some one who might fit the bill.
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Only the Lockheed Hercules would fit the bill.
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The fact that she and Hugh happened to fit the bill seemed to give her every opportunity for finding out.
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The martini perfectly fits the bill because of its simplicity.
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There were of course other ways in which Worldwide Plaza fit the bill very well.
foot the bill
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It will be, as usual, the taxpayer who will be footing the bill.
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The program asks businesses to foot the bill for daily newspapers in the classroom.
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Airlines currently foot the bill for the security systems.
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Her father is footing the bill for lessons, which cost about $ 100 for two hours.
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If taxpayers footed the bill, those costs might well be higher.
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Individuals in dysfunctional environments often be-come dysfunctional in other aspects of their lives, with their organizations ultimately footing the bill.
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It has already been argued in some detail that foot the bill is semantically transparent.
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Many customers will have to foot the bill for water meters, which most companies will eventually install.
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Sometimes they came alone, sometimes with a man in tow - to foot the bill!
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These two mindless cads decided to bring the girl along to the East and have her foot the bill.
pick up the bill/tab (for sth)
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The company's picking up the bill for my trip to Hawaii.
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After its shareholder equity turned negative last year, parent Dasa started picking up the bills.
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But remember - raid your savings now and Santa won't pick up the bill.
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Everything depended on contributors picking up the bill in ten, twenty or thirty years.
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I wonder to myself as I pick up the tab for breakfast.
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In addition, my company will pick up the tab for all legal and moving expenses.
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Often, the book publisher, not the author, picks up the tab.
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There is a growing, often unstated, anticipation that the private sector will pick up the bill for public services.
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When the check comes, the lobbyists almost always pick up the tab.
run up a debt/bill etc
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For Gieves the tailors, the extent to which clients indulged in running up bills regardless had become extremely serious.
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Having run up a debt of over £100,000, they're unlikely to be forgotten by Virgin Records in a hurry.
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He spent 3 months there, running up bills of £30,000, as yet unpaid.
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If my neighbours ran up a bill and refused to pay we would not be expected to pay it.
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It became a more serious potential debt trap than running up bills at retailers.
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Model customers run up bills and pay in installments, with the high interest that makes the business so lucrative.
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The problem of running up debts to pay for the elderly is straight-forward.
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They continue to run up bills and never build equity in their house.
sign a bill/legislation/agreement into law
table a bill/measure/proposal etc
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At that time, Dole voted to table a measure that would have negated the Supreme Court ruling.
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Baldwin tabled proposals which involved payments of £34 million a year.
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For example, by the drinks table Bill Muggeridge seemed to be trying to make up to Mrs Crumwallis.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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Can I have the bill , please?
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Monday's debate on the defense bill lasted all night.
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The bill for the meal came to $75, including wine.
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The garage sent me a bill for £400.
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The House of Representatives passed a new gun-control bill .
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The president signed a bill that will help more families move from welfare to work.
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They left the hotel without paying the bill .
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We've just had a huge telephone bill .
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
After all of the bills are paid, about $ 6.2 million should remain, he said.
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But before work can start they need the money, and the final bill could come to several million pounds.
▪
But it could land them with a court bill of up to £200 if they're stopped by the police.
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Sewer rates, which are included on water bills, would not be affected.
▪
The influential Bell study gave them largely a clean bill of health as a model for determining disputes concerning entitlement to benefit.
▪
The public has purchased only half as many as needed to cover the bill .
▪
To keep rate bills to a minimum, action needs to be taken.
II. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
customer
▪
For example, telephone charges are normally billed to customers every quarter in retrospect.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a clean bill of health
▪
Three months after the operation, the doctors gave her a clean bill of health.
▪
And with a clean bill of health, Granato is promising to be same kind of performer he always was.
▪
Charles ended up with a clean bill of health and a parking ticket.
▪
If the ship was given a clean bill of health, Customs Officials went on board.
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The influential Bell study gave them largely a clean bill of health as a model for determining disputes concerning entitlement to benefit.
▪
They gave it a clean bill of health.
give sb top/star billing
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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One lobbyist billed the environmental group $20,000 for nine-months' work.
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Some lawyers bill clients up to $300 an hour.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
But Marsha is billed $ 578 a month for his bed, board and treatment.
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Despite being billed as the next big thing, huge contracts and catwalk shows failed to materialise.
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In New York, my pharmacist bills Medicaid directly.
▪
Some consumers are offered one-year subscriptions and then are billed for two years.