I. adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a blank cheque (= signed but without the amount written on it )
▪
I wasn't sure how much the tickets would be so I gave her a blank cheque.
a blank page (= with nothing on it )
▪
There were a couple of blank pages at the back of the book.
a blank space (= on a page, wall etc )
▪
Write your refund request in the blank space on Line 9.
a blank stare (= showing no emotion, understanding, or interest )
▪
Mention his name, and you get mostly blank stares.
a blank/vacant expression (= one that shows no emotion, understanding, or interest )
▪
The blank expression on Bobbie’s face gave way to anger.
blank cheque
blank tape
▪
Bring me a blank tape and I’ll record it for you.
blank verse
blank/impassive (= showing no emotion or thoughts )
▪
What was she really thinking behind that blank face?
clean/blank sheet of paper (= one with no writing on it )
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
check
▪
Outside, on the front lawn hoisted atop a wooden flagpole, an eternal blank check waves bravely in the breeze.
▪
But the public consensus for a Pentagon blank check collapsed with the Cold War.
▪
But I want to know where my party is going before I give it a blank check .
cheque
▪
And here ... sign this blank cheque for what you owe.
▪
There will be no blank cheque for missile defence.
▪
He was effectively granted a blank cheque to conduct a war without Congressional authorization for up to 90 days.
expression
▪
All seven of her faces wear a blank expression .
▪
Through all the speeches and songs, she stood under a tree, her blank expression never changing.
▪
That last night, when the returns started coming in, he had this blank expression on his face.
face
▪
That face was not the blank face that Cardiff had expected.
▪
I did so when the under-30 crowd gave me blank faces at my casual reference to High Noon.
▪
Behind his blank face , Gabriel was playing the Wishing Game.
▪
The children opened too-large mouths in otherwise blank faces .
▪
The blank face will serve the same purpose as old style screens.
▪
I presented a blank face to the outside world.
▪
There's 9,000 shivering punters in here, 7,500 of which have blank faces .
▪
As a sleeping princess, her blank face and torso exaggerate rather than diminish the beauty of her preternaturally leggy dancing.
line
▪
Leave blank lines between paragraphs and make frequent use of headings to hold the reader's interest.
▪
Press Enter once more to insert a blank line .
▪
Repeatedly doing this will move the cursor through all of the blank lines until it reaches the maximum.
▪
Press Enter twice-once to end the salutation, a second time to insert a blank line . 9.
▪
The deleted line appears at the top of the list, followed by a blank line. 10.
▪
Insert three blank lines between the date and the body of the letter.
▪
You press the Enter key to begin a new paragraph or to insert blank lines in the text.
▪
Legal documents, for example, often require line numbers, even on blank lines.
look
▪
Her head sank on to her chin and a kind of blank look misted over her eyes.
▪
There were pauses and blank looks .
▪
If you ask a user what sort of system he wants you will be met with a blank look .
page
▪
Like an author, Eloise would write what she chose on the blank page , would turn Jenny into her own creation.
▪
She found black men impossible to draw or to paint; she could not bear to trace defeat on to blank pages .
▪
Couldn't have picked up the pen and opened the notebook and faced the blank page .
▪
Another strategy my children use is to keep their notebooks open to a blank page while reading one of their books.
▪
He'd been staring at the blank page in his typewriter and wondering where he could find the enthusiasm to write.
▪
There are no blank pages in his book.
▪
Just the type of blank page made to suit a man like him.
▪
Pointing to the initial blank page , I ask Tony what the title for his book will be.
paper
▪
I was then told to go away and write down my entire life history on three sheets of blank paper .
▪
Needless to say, all that was left was a blank paper where all his hard work had been.
▪
The figure of Robert Duvall was holding a briefcase; he glanced inside but found nothing but a sheet of blank paper .
▪
Tears come to your eyes as you read the blank paper for what it can tell you.
▪
A labourer howls in the nothingness of the blank paper , which is also the empty, impoverished land.
▪
Karen couldn't see much at that distance; even the paintings on the walls looked like blank paper .
▪
Hold on to all these smells until the evening, when you can deliver them up on to the blank paper .
screen
▪
As you launch the program you're greeted with a friendly main menu rather than a blank screen .
▪
In front of the blank screen , the officer stood scolding.
▪
You turned it on but nothing is happening - blank screen , no whirring noise, no beeps, no flashing lights.
▪
So I faced a blank screen ... no preconceptions, restrictions, or restraints.
▪
The smears on the television had gone so she gazed at the reflection of the sunlight on the blank screen instead.
▪
Many who signed on later in the day were turned away with blank screens or error messages.
sheet
▪
We must ensure Brian Wilson's blank sheet of paper is full of good ideas before too long.
▪
Manion put the seven blank sheets of paper and the accompanying envelopes in a file folder and left for lunch.
▪
Inevitably, when he arrived home he found he had nothing but a blank sheet of photographic paper.
▪
To put it simply, it is difficult to get beyond that first blank sheet of paper.
▪
He still had to put his own words on this blank sheet in front of him.
▪
You will also need blank sheets of paper of the same size, markers, and paper for students.
▪
Nigel was installed in the office with a blank sheet of paper in front of him when Eleanor arrived.
▪
Put the bell picture up on the wall with the blank sheet of paper next to it. 2.
space
▪
Peter Edwards looks at the blank space that now passes for a promotions policy.
▪
Deadwood was just a blank space in the marriage.
▪
Documents must not be handed to drivers or otherwise issued with blank spaces for recording particulars of tare weights or net weights.
▪
In the blank spaces at the bottom of the chart, add other words you need.
▪
On the map it was pretty well blank space , save for the thin blue lines of creeks or marsh drains crisscrossing it.
▪
Even in the worst case, there will still be four blank spaces between columns.
▪
Don't leave a blank space here - no one's life is perfect.
▪
To delete a tab stop, position the cursor in the blank space of the tab area, then press Del.
spot
▪
Have you made a note of some kind that reminds you to research the blank spots further? 4.
stare
▪
Poindexter gave him a blank stare .
▪
But ask them when fund shareholders should sell their funds, and you get a blank stare .
▪
Julie found herself drawn almost hypnotically to the blank stares .
▪
As his eyes adjusted to the dimness he began to feel dominated by the blank stares of the plaster martyrs.
▪
All he got in return was a blank stare and a cloud of fresh cigar smoke.
tape
▪
Buying that blank tape had been a waste, for she knew she would never dare play it back.
▪
Put about ten on a blank tape , then play it once through to your Six.
▪
And the success of the established record industry's campaign for a royalty on blank tape could also contribute.
▪
Using the freezer facility, can I put all my games on blank tapes to load faster?
verse
▪
Coleridge had developed an apparently relaxed, but in fact extremely clever style of blank verse .
wall
▪
A blank wall the height of a house on your right.
▪
I went to the window and looked out on the blank wall .
▪
But there's no sky, no stars, just the opaque blank wall next door.
▪
Behind her is a blank wall or perhaps a sheet tacked up as a makeshift backdrop.
▪
The low vaulted roof stretched for some forty feet until it met the blank wall at the far end.
▪
The goal was another peg, some 30 feet and almost horizontally leftwards across yet another blank wall .
▪
The future is not a blank wall to line up against, but a way to be walked.
▪
You may decide to put a table and a lectern in front of a blank wall .
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
draw a blank
▪
I just drew a blank on the last test question.
▪
Once again police investigators have drawn a blank.
▪
But other experiments continue to draw blanks, as two recent papers in Physical Review Letters report.
▪
He used the word discreet and drew a blank.
▪
Maggie had drawn a blank, none of the bodies were of those she was looking for.
▪
No, I draw a blank.
▪
Outside, it is closing time and we have drawn a blank.
▪
Police inquiries so far have drawn a blank.
▪
Ron Wyden, drew a blank when asked where Bosnia was.
▪
Well, we've drawn a blank.
give sb a blank cheque
▪
We cannot let our democracy become a matter of simply giving a bunch of politicians a blank cheque to govern us every five years.
sb's mind goes blank
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
a blank expression
▪
a blank sheet of paper
▪
I said hello, and she gave me a blank look.
▪
I want to record the late-night movie. Do we have any blank video cassettes?
▪
I want to tape a show at 9:00. Are there any blank tapes?
▪
Ian stared at the blank sheet of paper in front of him.
▪
Maria could tell by the blank look in my eyes that I didn't understand.
▪
The children's faces were blank with sleepiness.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
As far as minimum requirements go, you will need to take at least one blank video cassette with you.
▪
Even the television had doors to hide its blank gray screen.
▪
If the field is left blank , a default value will be provided and displayed.
▪
In the blank spaces at the bottom of the chart, add other words you need.
▪
Nigel was installed in the office with a blank sheet of paper in front of him when Eleanor arrived.
▪
Signature block At the end of your letter, leave three lines of blank space for your signature.
▪
Tell them to look immediately at the middle of the blank sheet of paper.
▪
With wide, blank eyes he shuffled towards them.
II. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
point
▪
I refused point blank , but he didn't mind at all.
■ VERB
draw
▪
But other experiments continue to draw blanks , as two recent papers in Physical Review Letters report.
▪
He used the word discreet and drew a blank .
▪
Primary investigations into a suspected outbreak of foot-and-mouth at a nearby farm have drawn a blank .
▪
No, I draw a blank .
▪
Ron Wyden, drew a blank when asked where Bosnia was.
fill
▪
Choose New Card or New Contact and fill in the blanks .
▪
That gave Clinton the opportunity to fill in the partisan blanks , in greatly unflattering terms.
▪
To build these clever applications, you just select from menus or fill in the blanks on forms.
▪
But the Holy Spirit would fill in the blanks .
▪
Concert work fills the blanks in her diary left by the Bastille debacle.
▪
Still, some means had to be found to fill in the blanks .
▪
Does the whole conceptual perspective of the Monitor theory narrow down to a focus on filling in the blanks ?
▪
The author then filled in the blanks about how wise, handsome, brave, and team-spirited they were.
fire
▪
I was merely about to fire a blank to frighten off some stray cats.
▪
Other Customs agents have put corruption in the crosshairs only to find they were firing blanks .
▪
The system has previously undergone six months of preliminary tests in the same Redwood City neighborhood, with officers firing blanks .
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
the competition entry blank
▪
We didn't know the guns were firing blanks.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
Alternatively, they could be had ready-printed with blanks in the text for completion by the funeral furnisher.
▪
Choose New Card or New Contact and fill in the blanks.
▪
First a boxwood blank was turned to a cylinder.
▪
Other Customs agents have put corruption in the crosshairs only to find they were firing blanks.
▪
Without being able to read what Black has written, everything is a blank so far.
III. verb
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
give sb a blank cheque
▪
We cannot let our democracy become a matter of simply giving a bunch of politicians a blank cheque to govern us every five years.
sb's mind goes blank
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
I said hello to her in the street, but she just blanked me and carried on walking.
▪
The Whalers blanked the Washington Capitals 2-0.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
I leave it all up to Rob as I blank out my mind and hang on to my sanity.
▪
She closed her eyes and rethought them, blanking their memories and recreating them from the emptiness up.