I. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a bit depressed British English spoken:
▪
I felt a bit depressed because I was so short of money.
a bit of a chat spoken BrE:
▪
Perhaps I could have a bit of a chat with him.
a bit of a cheek
▪
It’s a bit of a cheek , asking me for money.
a bit of a misunderstanding British English
▪
I’m afraid it’s all a bit of a misunderstanding.
a bite mark (= a mark where something has bitten you )
▪
Her arms were covered in itchy bite marks.
a bite to eat (= a small meal )
▪
We should have time for a bite to eat before we set out.
a bit/little scared
▪
I was always a little scared of my father.
a dog bites sb
▪
Their dog had bitten a little girl on the leg.
a fish bites (= it takes food from a hook and gets caught )
▪
The fish aren’t biting today.
a little/a bit nervous
▪
I was a little nervous before the interview.
a piece/bit of cheese
▪
Would you like a piece of cheese?
a piece/bit of chocolate
▪
Would you like a piece of chocolate?
a piece/bit of information ( also an item of information formal )
▪
He provided me with several useful pieces of information.
a snake bites sb
▪
I might get bitten by a snake.
a spider bites sb
▪
He was bitten by a tropical spider in a bunch of bananas.
an icy/biting/bitter wind (= very cold )
▪
She shivered in the icy wind.
an insect bite
▪
He was worried about a large red insect bite on his back.
be a bit of a blow British English especially spoken (= be disappointing or cause problems for you )
▪
The result was a bit of a blow for the team.
be a bit of a gamble (= involve a small amount of risk )
▪
It was a bit of a gamble putting him on the field, but he played well.
be (a bit of a) minefield
▪
Dating can be a bit of a minefield.
be a bit of a myth (= be not really true )
▪
The whole story is a bit of a myth.
be a bit of a shock British English especially spoken (= be a shock, but not very serious or unpleasant )
▪
I wasn’t expecting to win, so it was a bit of a shock.
be a bit of an exaggeration informal (= be a slight exaggeration )
▪
It's a bit of an exaggeration to say he's handsome.
bit part
▪
He’s had bit parts in a couple of soaps.
bit player
▪
Although he was NRC chairman, Hervey was strictly a bit player in government.
bite into an apple
▪
Sue bit into her apple with a loud crunch.
bite your nails
▪
Eddie bit his nails nervously.
every bit as much as
▪
I loved him every bit as much as she did.
every last drop/bit/scrap etc (= all of something, including even the smallest amount of it )
▪
They made us pick up every last scrap of paper.
is a bit of a mess
▪
Sorry – the place is a bit of a mess .
I’m a bit short British English spoken (= I haven’t got much money at the moment )
Let’s have a bit of hush
▪
Let’s have a bit of hush , please, gentlemen.
love bite
nails...bitten to the quick
▪
Her nails were bitten to the quick .
savage/stinging/vicious/biting satire
▪
a biting satire of the television industry
see you in a bit British English (= see you soon )
sound bite
threepenny bit
tiny bit
▪
She always felt a tiny bit sad.
went a bit mad (= spent a lot of money )
▪
We went a bit mad and ordered champagne.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
back
▪
But the apple is biting back .
▪
Unfortunately, the very live bat bit back , and Osbourne underwent a painful series of precautionary rabies injections.
▪
So she bit back her explanation, even though she could not bring herself to respond to André's embrace.
▪
Her teeth sank into her bottom lip, biting back a cry, and she winced.
▪
But she bit back the words.
▪
And biting back ... the Whitesnake man plays it again.
▪
She had the insane desire to tell all that to this man, but she bit back the words.
▪
She bit back on her irritation.
deep
▪
The handcuffs bit deep into his wrist as Sullivan pulled at the fallen body beside him.
▪
Cherith's betrayal had bitten deep , then - deeper even than Folly had realised.
down
▪
He bit down on it, and the display began to supply proximity and ground contour information.
▪
She bit down on her garlic, which cracked coldly, like bamboo being sliced by a knife.
▪
She felt faint now, but for a very different reason, and she bit down hard on her lip.
▪
By bracing herself against the tree and biting down hard on her lip, she was able to struggle to her feet.
▪
The nails on the hand clutching the pen were bitten down to the quick - always a sign of savagery.
▪
Yeah, so I was just telling Mr Glover that the fish are biting down there this afternoon.
▪
She bit down on his lower lip, gently, just enough to excite and not enough to hurt.
▪
I put my arm over my mouth and bit down on it to keep from crying out.
hard
▪
Lily put her fist in her mouth and bit hard on her fingers.
▪
She twisted her mouth in a cry of sheer ecstasy and bit hard on her lip.
▪
Her teeth bit hard into her lower lip.
▪
The boy smiled faintly, and then bit hard on his lips and gnawed the smile away.
off
▪
My head had been bitten off .
▪
He just might bite off a finger or a nose or poke you in the ear.
▪
But what happened to me was that my head was bitten off almost literally.
▪
It must, instead, be bitten off like this: 1.
▪
Striped in a tiger mask, he feinted across the counter at Melanie; she bit off an exclamation.
▪
The last thing he did was bite off the little finger of her left hand.
▪
Council members took jabs and butted heads and bit off ears, figuratively speaking.
▪
The 435 members of the House each are expected to bite off a specialty and run with it.
once
▪
Once bitten and the bite had gone deeper, he now knew, than he had ever appreciated.
■ NOUN
bug
▪
It was then that the drama bug had bitten .
▪
The bug had even bitten the hawkers.
▪
The collecting bug often bites early.
▪
It felt cool and astringent but the bugs kept biting .
bullet
▪
In the February issue I warned you that I was going to bite the bullet and buy a real computer.
▪
You see, as Job Survivor I am sweating bullets by night, biting bullets by day.
▪
If the Socialists win the election, they too will have to bite the bullet .
▪
It means Labour biting the bullet .
▪
Shouldn't we bite the bullet now and legislate, as many are suggesting?
▪
When fate marks you down for immortality you'd just better bite the bullet and lace your boots up tight.
dust
▪
The finale of Unforgiven is as much a tragedy for the survivors as for those who bite the dust .
▪
Another good restaurant bites the dust -- end of story, right?
▪
So what are you going to do, now that your favourite C64 action mag has bitten the dust ?
▪
They bite the dust with lead in their bellies.
hand
▪
Somehow, without guidance and peer influence, cricketers are apt to bite the hand that feeds them.
▪
The third woman went to pull a weed in her front yard and a rattler bit her hand .
▪
The studs bit into Trent's hand .
▪
This appears to be a new version of biting the hand that feeds you.
▪
He bit him in the hand .
▪
It is hard to bite the hand that feeds you.
▪
Should they then turn around to bite the hand that takes down their volunteered confessions, they will fail.
▪
Why does a cat sometimes bite the hand that strokes it?
head
▪
This Katherine bites the heads off rag-dolls and threatens her sister Bianca with a pair of pinking shears.
▪
He had no right to bite the head off one of his staunchest friends.
▪
You could trust him not to take the mickey, or to turn round and bite your head off.
▪
A geek is a carnival performer who bites the heads off live chickens and snakes.
▪
Just to bite their heads off.
▪
His ankles are reddened by sand-flea bites , his head has been shorn to indicate his reduction in status.
▪
I could have bitten her head off.
▪
Not two minutes in his company and she was biting his head off.
lip
▪
Now she stopped, biting her lip .
▪
She was biting her lower lip .
▪
Emily bit her lip , the girl was obviously in touch with Craig, perhaps they were even living in the same house.
▪
She bit her lip over the length, but there was little she could do about it.
▪
She bound her brows and bit her lower lip and generally carried on like some one with serious constipation.
▪
She bit on her lip , an exquisite agony tearing her apart.
▪
Dinah bit her lips , to keep from screaming.
▪
Peach bit her lip , feeling the sweat trickle down the back of her shirt.
mosquito
▪
We lived in the bush, drank muddy water, were bitten by mosquitoes .
▪
Dear Madam: I have your claim for $ 5. 00 for having been bitten by a mosquito on our train.
▪
People living near Lambarene can be bitten by infected mosquitoes as often as 100 times a night.
▪
Humans contract the disease when bitten by mosquitoes that have been infected by primates.
▪
Through that hot and humid night, he was bitten by mosquitoes and nipped by rats.
nail
▪
His nails were bitten to the quicks.
▪
Lissa's nails bit convulsively into her palms.
▪
He thrust his face into hers, forcing her to breathe his rancid breath; his untrimmed nails bit into her arms.
▪
Her hands were small and her nails were bitten and short.
▪
Quiet, reserved, with finger nails bitten down to the quick, Jim stood just five foot six inches tall.
piece
▪
If you then hold food near its mouth, it will bite off pieces and swallow them.
recession
▪
Their worst patch was in 1989 and 1990, before recession really bit .
▪
The recession may be biting in our own larders.
▪
Hard-up families in the stockbroker belt are begging state schools to bail them out as the recession bites deeper.
▪
Trafalgar shares have slumped from a peak of £3.96 three years ago as the recession has bitten into profits.
snake
▪
They turn into snakes and bite each other.
▪
They knew, and he knew, that when that snake bit YOu, you died.
sound
▪
I was thinking back to famous historical sound bites .
▪
Great inaugural speeches generally have one memorable sound bite .
▪
It was hardly the stuff of which sound bites are made.
▪
The issue is too complicated for honest sound bites anyway.
tongue
▪
He's not and would be wise to bite his tongue .
▪
He wished with all his soul that he had bitten his tongue instead.
▪
Polly battled on, practically biting her tongue in half.
▪
Tell them to bite their tongues .
▪
Whatever the reason, Dauntless bit his tongue and resolved to put up with Cleo Sinister.
▪
Ivan Yerineev was thrown to the ground and bit off his tongue .
▪
She could have bitten off her impulsive tongue .
▪
But they want a pink one, so Ralph takes out a pink one, bites his tongue .
■ VERB
begin
▪
Yet as constraints on funding begin to bite a new dynamic is becoming apparent.
▪
Charlea burst not into tears but began to bite her lip and soon broke out into gales of laughter.
▪
Next came his three younger sisters whom he began to terrorise - biting , kicking and scratching them.
▪
When his stepfather, Douglas Reynolds, intervened, Campbell began biting Reynolds' face, police said.
▪
I had to paint the gashes as soon as possible so that rust would not begin to bite into Wavebreaker's long sleekness.
▪
Once the constraints on local authority capital expenditure began to bite it cooperated with private housing development on inner-area sites.
▪
This increase occurred after the 1996 Asylum and Immigration Act, which denied refugees access to social housing, began to bite .
start
▪
Babies start to bite and chew about half-way through their first year.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
(a bit of) a mouthful
(it's) a bit thick
(just) that little bit better/easier etc
▪
We have put together a few of the most popular itineraries to help make your choice that little bit easier.
a bit
▪
'Are you coming?' 'Yes, in a bit .'
▪
After a bit , Bill had started to tire of her company.
▪
Do you mind looking after the kids for a bit while I go out?
▪
Enrollment is down a bit from last year.
▪
I'm feeling a bit better
▪
I sat down, and after a bit , the phone rang.
▪
I think I'll lie down for a bit .
▪
I waited, and a bit later the phone went again -- it was Bill.
▪
Oh, wait a bit , can't you?
▪
Prices have dropped a bit in the last few days.
▪
Wait a bit , I've nearly finished.
a bit
a bit
a bit of a lad
a bit of a sth
▪
Got a bit of tidying Up to do.
▪
Her desired outcome was a bit of money to help with major structural repairs.
▪
People like to see a bit of bellowing in a king.
▪
Saare remembers one student who did not do well academically and was a bit of a troublemaker.
▪
That would be a bit of a lie.
▪
Warren is from an upper middleclass Connecticut family; he's a bit of a snob.
▪
What is needed, perhaps, is a bit of disgraceful degradation of the sort that nobody can ignore.
a bit of how's your father
a bit of hush
a bit of rough
▪
At the moment it looks more like a bit of rough pasture ... full of dandelions and clover patches.
a bit of rough
▪
At the moment it looks more like a bit of rough pasture ... full of dandelions and clover patches.
a bit of skirt
a bit of stuff/fluff/skirt
a fair size/amount/number/bit/distance etc
▪
But a fair number of them went on to greater things.
▪
It prefers a fair amount of nutritious detritus.
▪
Scientists must proceed cautiously, moving ahead only with the assent of a fair number of their colleagues.
▪
Thanks to the inherently leaky nature of the water industry, there is already a fair amount of information to go on.
▪
That involved a fair amount of travel.
▪
There was a fair amount going on.
▪
They'd have a fair bit of tidying up to do before they left.
▪
You may also be involved in a fair amount of travel.
a little bit
▪
He was even maybe a little bit relieved, because immediately it was clear that Ernie was what she needed.
▪
I prefer to talk a little bit.
▪
I really just did it for a little bit, and then gave it up.
▪
There was, I suspect, a little bit of Otago isolationism involved.
a wee bit
▪
Don't you think her behavior is just a wee bit bizarre?
▪
As for the holiday, I agree with you, it sounds a wee bit unlikely.
▪
He is hapless, passive and maybe just a wee bit smug.
▪
It is a wee bit disconcerting when you can hear yourself think in a pub these days.
▪
Monica is a wee bit overweight.
▪
Reason I ask, Mr Rasmussen says you seemed a wee bit tipsy.
▪
There is no label on the bottle, it tastes a wee bit vinegary.
▪
We have been lacking a wee bit of professionalism recently.
▪
You might be just a wee bit too clever for your own good now.
a/one bit at a time
▪
The text can be put on an overhead and revealed a bit at a time.
be a bit much
▪
But maybe total understanding of everything is a bit much to ask of a tiny human mind.
▪
But seeing the little fellow lying there in sauce, sauteed, was a bit much.
▪
But to rise from the grave was a bit much even for Nixon.
be a bit much/be too much
be a bit of all right
bit by bit
▪
Bit by bit, our apartment started to look like a home.
▪
But then, slowly, bit by bit, year by year, I began to change my mind.
▪
In therapy, we chip away at this, bit by bit.
▪
Make a small cut and then try to pull the gall to pieces bit by bit.
▪
So bit by bit you're being written into the programme and fed into the computer.
▪
The experiment faltered bit by bit.
▪
The information only came out bit by bit since she's still not easy in her mind about talking to us.
▪
Thus, bit by bit, the child learns to string together more complicated sequences.
▪
You can shop meal by meal, or bit by bit.
bit on the side
▪
Her husband's reaction to Lowell's bit on the side had been subdued.
bite your tongue
▪
Always ready to knock on wood, throw salt over my shoulder, bite my tongue , cross my fingers.
▪
But they want a pink one, so Ralph takes out a pink one, bites his tongue .
▪
He's not and would be wise to bite his tongue .
▪
It's all very well telling some one to bite their tongue and not fight back.
▪
Polly battled on, practically biting her tongue in half.
▪
Tell them to bite their tongues .
▪
Whatever the reason, Dauntless bit his tongue and resolved to put up with Cleo Sinister.
bite/snap sb's head off
▪
A geek is a carnival performer who bites the heads off live chickens and snakes.
▪
He had no right to bite the head off one of his staunchest friends.
▪
I could have bitten her head off.
▪
Just to bite their heads off.
▪
Not two minutes in his company and she was biting his head off.
▪
The gusts are becoming malevolent, snapping the heads off the waves like daisies.
▪
This Katherine bites the heads off rag-dolls and threatens her sister Bianca with a pair of pinking shears.
▪
You could trust him not to take the mickey, or to turn round and bite your head off.
do your bit
▪
I've done my bit - now it's up to you.
▪
We wanted to do our bit for the boys fighting in the war.
▪
Don't you want to do your bit towards stamping it out?
▪
Eva and several of the cadets from overseas were put in the West End brigade to do their bit .
▪
Help is desperately needed - and rugby friends can do their bit .
▪
I hope that you can all do your bit .
▪
Let Africanized bees do their bit to breed better beekeepers in this country, in other words.
▪
Nature did its bit as well.
▪
Now I am not unpatriotic, and I want to do my bit in this great movement.
▪
Stonehenge has gone, so I reckon I can do me bit of growing up at Skipton Hall.
every bit as good/important etc
▪
Barbara was every bit as good as she sounded.
▪
Here, the Fund runs many family projects that are less well-known but doing work that is every bit as important.
▪
If you looked through a microscope you could see that they had cheekbones every bit as good as Hope Steadman's.
▪
In terms of predicting and controlling the social environment, high technology can quite clearly be every bit as important as brute force.
▪
It is for this reason that good balanced design is every bit as important as meticulous craftsmanship.
▪
It takes no more than five minutes and tastes every bit as good at the oven-baked variety.
▪
The explanation is every bit as important as the numbers!
every bit as important/bad/good etc
▪
Barbara was every bit as good as she sounded.
▪
Here, the Fund runs many family projects that are less well-known but doing work that is every bit as important.
▪
It is for this reason that good balanced design is every bit as important as meticulous craftsmanship.
▪
It takes no more than five minutes and tastes every bit as good at the oven-baked variety.
▪
The explanation is every bit as important as the numbers!
▪
The traffic was every bit as bad as had been predicted.
▪
Things every bit as bad happen there, too.
▪
To her horror it was every bit as bad as she'd feared, and possibly even a tiny bit worse.
get the bit between your teeth
it's (a little/bit) late in the day (to do sth)
not a bit/not one bit
not make a blind bit of difference
not take/pay a blind bit of notice
▪
For six years, the Government have not taken a blind bit of notice of the Audit Commission's report.
not the least/not in the least/not the least bit
once bitten, twice shy
quite a bit
▪
He owes me quite a bit of money.
▪
Jim has improved quite a bit since he came home from the hospital.
▪
She's quite a bit shorter than I remembered.
▪
She said she learned quite a bit .
▪
The estimates were a fair bit higher than what the final figure was.
▪
We've had quite a bit of snow this year so far.
▪
Alongside me was Sam Ratcliffe who, at the tender age of sixteen, had already had quite a bit of publicity.
▪
But it's already created quite a bit of controversy.
▪
It gives me hours of pleasurable reading and quite a bit of envious longing for things I can not afford.
▪
My grandson was over today and they played together quite a bit .
▪
That had generated quite a bit of business.
▪
The most noticeable change was in my brother, who had grown quite a bit and was now a third-grader.
▪
There's quite a bit of noise coming from the kitchens.
▪
There was quite a bit of war in the delta, so, some-times, sure.
quite a lot/bit/few
▪
A better day today, Miss Lavant wrote in her diary, quite a bit of sunshine.
▪
By no means, Watson; even now quite a few scientists continue to doubt.
▪
I lived quite a lot of my early childhood at the Thompsons' house behind a shop on Harehills Parade.
▪
Obviously, you have to wear quite a lot of protective clothing to minimise the risk of getting injured.
▪
Over 296 pages, Fallows cites quite a few.
▪
The man looks prosperous, like quite a few men.
▪
There's quite a bit of noise coming from the kitchens.
▪
There has been quite a lot of talk recently about adding enzymes to help the carp digest our sophisticated carp baits.
sb's bark is worse than their bite
take a bit of doing/explaining etc
▪
It took a bit of doing - for instance, the disposal site had to check out 100 percent.
▪
It took a bit of explaining.
▪
That's going to take a bit of explaining.
the hair of the dog (that bit you)
with (any) luck/with a bit of luck
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
Barry bit the corner of the packet to open it.
▪
Don't worry about the dog - he won't bite .
▪
Even a friendly dog will bite if it's scared.
▪
I sometimes bite my fingernails when I'm nervous.
▪
On just the second day of the trip, I was bitten on the leg by a snake.
▪
She fought off her attacker, scratching and biting him.
▪
She was bitten by a rattlesnake.
▪
Taryn, stop biting your fingernails!
▪
The company withdraws its new products quickly if consumers fail to bite .
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
A shell tore through his back, shattering his shoulder and collarbone and biting into his spine.
▪
Closed basins as deep as 135 feet were bitten out of the underlying basalt.
▪
Cook noodles in medium pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite .
▪
It chews and bites the venom into its victims, generally small mammals and birds.
▪
Not two minutes in his company and she was biting his head off.
▪
The workers were not scratched or bitten and have not been placed under quarantine.
▪
This Katherine bites the heads off rag-dolls and threatens her sister Bianca with a pair of pinking shears.
▪
When he got to his feet again McAteer grabbed him and bit half his ear off.
II. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
big
▪
I took a big bite , put it back on the table and left it to rot throughout the night.
▪
But coyotes are taking the biggest bite out of sheep farming in Northern California.
▪
Voice over Unlike Jackie, Bouncer's bark was probably bigger than his bite .
▪
Buying school supplies, she said, took a big bite out of her allowance.
▪
Profits of the Bisto-to-Mr-Kipling-cakes giant have nose-dived from £150m to just over £92m with big bites taken out of both bread and cakes.
▪
Then he takes a big bite of it.
▪
If that is the case you need to take bigger bites or steps.
■ NOUN
bug
▪
They sleep six to a bed and wake up to the fiery sting of bug bites .
mark
▪
But small or not, it appears to have left a nasty bite mark on her arm.
▪
I examined closely where the squirrel had bitten the branches, and found the bite marks in the thin bark.
▪
Broadly speaking, children under four are not sensitised and show no bite mark .
▪
I found these seemingly senseless bite marks by the hundreds.
▪
On 11 May 1991 he was taken to hospital suffering from 18 bruises and a bite mark .
▪
He left a dozen ugly bite marks on her back.
mosquito
▪
She found a spot on Nowak's calf that was red and swollen like a severe mosquito bite .
▪
The mosquito bite on his leg had swollen into a scarlet hillock.
snake
▪
Human deaths from snake bites are caused mainly by accident.
▪
In his magazine, he published formulas for animal manures and prescriptions for the cure of snake bites and malaria.
▪
Opposite A prairie rattler. Snake bites cause the death of over 100,000 people every year.
▪
I sent him back to the Patel farm with his snake bite and his elaborate complaints.
■ VERB
take
▪
This oarsman says it took a bite out of his blade.
▪
Already emaciated, he would take only occasional bites of food and seemed to shake violently when he drank fluids.
▪
If there was no numbing and if the item was reasonably palatable, then they'd take another small bite and swallow.
▪
They ate at whim, taking a bite here, a bite there.
▪
I took a bite out of the sandwich.
▪
But coyotes are taking the biggest bite out of sheep farming in Northern California.
▪
You know, the one that takes a healthy bite from your paycheck day after day, year after year?
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
(a bit of) a mouthful
(it's) a bit thick
(just) that little bit better/easier etc
▪
We have put together a few of the most popular itineraries to help make your choice that little bit easier.
a bit
▪
'Are you coming?' 'Yes, in a bit .'
▪
After a bit , Bill had started to tire of her company.
▪
Do you mind looking after the kids for a bit while I go out?
▪
Enrollment is down a bit from last year.
▪
I'm feeling a bit better
▪
I sat down, and after a bit , the phone rang.
▪
I think I'll lie down for a bit .
▪
I waited, and a bit later the phone went again -- it was Bill.
▪
Oh, wait a bit , can't you?
▪
Prices have dropped a bit in the last few days.
▪
Wait a bit , I've nearly finished.
a bit
a bit
a bit of a lad
a bit of a sth
▪
Got a bit of tidying Up to do.
▪
Her desired outcome was a bit of money to help with major structural repairs.
▪
People like to see a bit of bellowing in a king.
▪
Saare remembers one student who did not do well academically and was a bit of a troublemaker.
▪
That would be a bit of a lie.
▪
Warren is from an upper middleclass Connecticut family; he's a bit of a snob.
▪
What is needed, perhaps, is a bit of disgraceful degradation of the sort that nobody can ignore.
a bit of how's your father
a bit of hush
a bit of rough
▪
At the moment it looks more like a bit of rough pasture ... full of dandelions and clover patches.
a bit of rough
▪
At the moment it looks more like a bit of rough pasture ... full of dandelions and clover patches.
a bit of skirt
a bit of stuff/fluff/skirt
a fair size/amount/number/bit/distance etc
▪
But a fair number of them went on to greater things.
▪
It prefers a fair amount of nutritious detritus.
▪
Scientists must proceed cautiously, moving ahead only with the assent of a fair number of their colleagues.
▪
Thanks to the inherently leaky nature of the water industry, there is already a fair amount of information to go on.
▪
That involved a fair amount of travel.
▪
There was a fair amount going on.
▪
They'd have a fair bit of tidying up to do before they left.
▪
You may also be involved in a fair amount of travel.
a little bit
▪
He was even maybe a little bit relieved, because immediately it was clear that Ernie was what she needed.
▪
I prefer to talk a little bit.
▪
I really just did it for a little bit, and then gave it up.
▪
There was, I suspect, a little bit of Otago isolationism involved.
a wee bit
▪
Don't you think her behavior is just a wee bit bizarre?
▪
As for the holiday, I agree with you, it sounds a wee bit unlikely.
▪
He is hapless, passive and maybe just a wee bit smug.
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It is a wee bit disconcerting when you can hear yourself think in a pub these days.
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Monica is a wee bit overweight.
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Reason I ask, Mr Rasmussen says you seemed a wee bit tipsy.
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There is no label on the bottle, it tastes a wee bit vinegary.
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We have been lacking a wee bit of professionalism recently.
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You might be just a wee bit too clever for your own good now.
a/one bit at a time
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The text can be put on an overhead and revealed a bit at a time.
be a bit much
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But maybe total understanding of everything is a bit much to ask of a tiny human mind.
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But seeing the little fellow lying there in sauce, sauteed, was a bit much.
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But to rise from the grave was a bit much even for Nixon.
be a bit much/be too much
be a bit of all right
be champing at the bit
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David is champing at the bit.
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Within three months Eva was champing at the bit.
bit by bit
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Bit by bit, our apartment started to look like a home.
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But then, slowly, bit by bit, year by year, I began to change my mind.
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In therapy, we chip away at this, bit by bit.
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Make a small cut and then try to pull the gall to pieces bit by bit.
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So bit by bit you're being written into the programme and fed into the computer.
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The experiment faltered bit by bit.
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The information only came out bit by bit since she's still not easy in her mind about talking to us.
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Thus, bit by bit, the child learns to string together more complicated sequences.
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You can shop meal by meal, or bit by bit.
bit on the side
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Her husband's reaction to Lowell's bit on the side had been subdued.
bite your tongue
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Always ready to knock on wood, throw salt over my shoulder, bite my tongue , cross my fingers.
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But they want a pink one, so Ralph takes out a pink one, bites his tongue .
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He's not and would be wise to bite his tongue .
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It's all very well telling some one to bite their tongue and not fight back.
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Polly battled on, practically biting her tongue in half.
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Tell them to bite their tongues .
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Whatever the reason, Dauntless bit his tongue and resolved to put up with Cleo Sinister.
bite/snap sb's head off
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A geek is a carnival performer who bites the heads off live chickens and snakes.
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He had no right to bite the head off one of his staunchest friends.
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I could have bitten her head off.
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Just to bite their heads off.
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Not two minutes in his company and she was biting his head off.
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The gusts are becoming malevolent, snapping the heads off the waves like daisies.
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This Katherine bites the heads off rag-dolls and threatens her sister Bianca with a pair of pinking shears.
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You could trust him not to take the mickey, or to turn round and bite your head off.
do your bit
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I've done my bit - now it's up to you.
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We wanted to do our bit for the boys fighting in the war.
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Don't you want to do your bit towards stamping it out?
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Eva and several of the cadets from overseas were put in the West End brigade to do their bit .
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Help is desperately needed - and rugby friends can do their bit .
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I hope that you can all do your bit .
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Let Africanized bees do their bit to breed better beekeepers in this country, in other words.
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Nature did its bit as well.
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Now I am not unpatriotic, and I want to do my bit in this great movement.
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Stonehenge has gone, so I reckon I can do me bit of growing up at Skipton Hall.
every bit as good/important etc
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Barbara was every bit as good as she sounded.
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Here, the Fund runs many family projects that are less well-known but doing work that is every bit as important.
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If you looked through a microscope you could see that they had cheekbones every bit as good as Hope Steadman's.
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In terms of predicting and controlling the social environment, high technology can quite clearly be every bit as important as brute force.
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It is for this reason that good balanced design is every bit as important as meticulous craftsmanship.
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It takes no more than five minutes and tastes every bit as good at the oven-baked variety.
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The explanation is every bit as important as the numbers!
every bit as important/bad/good etc
▪
Barbara was every bit as good as she sounded.
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Here, the Fund runs many family projects that are less well-known but doing work that is every bit as important.
▪
It is for this reason that good balanced design is every bit as important as meticulous craftsmanship.
▪
It takes no more than five minutes and tastes every bit as good at the oven-baked variety.
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The explanation is every bit as important as the numbers!
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The traffic was every bit as bad as had been predicted.
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Things every bit as bad happen there, too.
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To her horror it was every bit as bad as she'd feared, and possibly even a tiny bit worse.
get the bit between your teeth
it's (a little/bit) late in the day (to do sth)
not a bit/not one bit
not make a blind bit of difference
not take/pay a blind bit of notice
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For six years, the Government have not taken a blind bit of notice of the Audit Commission's report.
not the least/not in the least/not the least bit
once bitten, twice shy
quite a bit
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He owes me quite a bit of money.
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Jim has improved quite a bit since he came home from the hospital.
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She's quite a bit shorter than I remembered.
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She said she learned quite a bit .
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The estimates were a fair bit higher than what the final figure was.
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We've had quite a bit of snow this year so far.
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Alongside me was Sam Ratcliffe who, at the tender age of sixteen, had already had quite a bit of publicity.
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But it's already created quite a bit of controversy.
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It gives me hours of pleasurable reading and quite a bit of envious longing for things I can not afford.
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My grandson was over today and they played together quite a bit .
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That had generated quite a bit of business.
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The most noticeable change was in my brother, who had grown quite a bit and was now a third-grader.
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There's quite a bit of noise coming from the kitchens.
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There was quite a bit of war in the delta, so, some-times, sure.
quite a lot/bit/few
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A better day today, Miss Lavant wrote in her diary, quite a bit of sunshine.
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By no means, Watson; even now quite a few scientists continue to doubt.
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I lived quite a lot of my early childhood at the Thompsons' house behind a shop on Harehills Parade.
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Obviously, you have to wear quite a lot of protective clothing to minimise the risk of getting injured.
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Over 296 pages, Fallows cites quite a few.
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The man looks prosperous, like quite a few men.
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There's quite a bit of noise coming from the kitchens.
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There has been quite a lot of talk recently about adding enzymes to help the carp digest our sophisticated carp baits.
sb's bark is worse than their bite
take a bit of doing/explaining etc
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It took a bit of doing - for instance, the disposal site had to check out 100 percent.
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It took a bit of explaining.
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That's going to take a bit of explaining.
the hair of the dog (that bit you)
with (any) luck/with a bit of luck
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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a protest song with bite and wit
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After two bites I realised the apple was rotten.
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Animal bites should be treated immediately.
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Sometimes I sit for hours and never get a bite .
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The barbecue sauce lacked heat and bite .
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The state will be taking a bite out of money earned from local traffic tickets
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There's just time for a quick bite to eat before the film begins.
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We'll have a bite then go into town.
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We woke up to find ourselves covered in mosquito bites.
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You can get Lyme disease from a tick bite .
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Despite appearances, its bark is definitely worse than its bite .
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He now takes bites from his lunch between smokes.
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His bee bite , he noticed, was finally gone.
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One bite of coffee cake that tasted like a syrupy old sponge and they knew better the next time.
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Press harder and it becomes obvious that front-end bite and turn-in are actually very good.
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Profits of the Bisto-to-Mr-Kipling-cakes giant have nose-dived from £150m to just over £92m with big bites taken out of both bread and cakes.
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Would he care to stay on for a bite to eat?