I. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
fight/choke/blink back tears (= try not to cry )
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She fought back tears yesterday as she re-lived the horrors she had seen.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
back
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The scrawny swarthy-skinned kid in the mirror blinked back at him.
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For a moment the two strangers just stood there holding hands and blinking back their tears.
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Its red light blinked back at her. ` Are you there?
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Touching the welt, Howard tried to blink back tears before going inside.
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Robyn blinked back unexpected tears and leant forward to place a log carefully on to the mound of hot red twigs.
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She blinked back the tears and made a fanfare out of unwrapping the gift.
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She blinked back sudden unexpected tears and twisted round uneasily.
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I noticed that his hands were trembling slightly, and he seemed to be blinking back tears.
even
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She found that she could not even blink under the harsh glare.
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And yet Stillman had not even blinked .
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But in the stagecraft of dethronement, Kingsley had not taken the bait, had not even blinked .
hard
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She blinked hard , blew her nose, and was relieved that Luke didn't appear to notice anything amiss.
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She blinked hard , realising that she was staring.
on
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Jonathon's eyes, unprotected, blinked on and off, unused to open air.
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The streetlamps blinked on , buzzing.
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It's real great to watch them cos they blink on and off all the time.
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The room blinked on and off with light ning.
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The lights in those houses are slowly blinking on .
rapidly
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He was very affected; he blinked rapidly as if warding off tears.
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His eyelids blinked rapidly as he registered the toughest questions.
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I watched his face as he blinked rapidly and he looked at me in disgust, or was it disbelief?
■ NOUN
eye
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Blood had begun to run into the corner of his eye and he blinked to try and clear his vision.
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Between the dark shaggy locks of his head, more than a hundred eyes blinked and blazed.
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Tears ran down his cheeks, but that was because his eyes couldn't blink .
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The first thing I saw when my eyes blinked into focus was an ant marching over a small stone.
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The Eye of Japetus had blinked , as if to remove an irritating speck of dust.
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The grey eyes blinked , small and frightened.
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One of his eyes blinked as it seemed to be studying his own sculpted nose.
light
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Larry blinked as the light left his face and laughed to show his complicity.
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That said, he wheeled around in his swivel chair and picked up a blinking light .
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He crept to the door and opened it, blinking at the bright light .
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The refugees stumbled toward military buses, blinking at the harsh lights .
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Quinn was stiff, and blinked in the electric light of the garage.
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Walter blinked in the morning light .
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The quotation propelled an unpretentious poet called Minnie Haskins blinking into the light .
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There were smaller constellations of blinking red and blue lights throbbing along the graffiti-splattered walls.
tear
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She needed to blink away tears .
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For a moment the two strangers just stood there holding hands and blinking back their tears .
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When she blinked , the tears overflowed and ran back along her cheekbones to her ears, where the swaddling absorbed them.
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Touching the welt, Howard tried to blink back tears before going inside.
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She blinked away a tear and nodded.
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She blinked back the tears and made a fanfare out of unwrapping the gift.
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Claudia opened her eyes and blinked away the tears .
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I noticed that his hands were trembling slightly, and he seemed to be blinking back tears .
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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He blinked as he walked out into the bright sunshine.
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The neon lights on the theater blinked red and blue.
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When I got in, the message light on my answering machine was blinking.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Blood had begun to run into the corner of his eye and he blinked to try and clear his vision.
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Cranston tightened his lips, blinking his eyes furiously as he always did when the tears threatened to return.
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He went over to her and saw that her eyes were staring into the sun without blinking.
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Paige blinked up at the furious male figure above her.
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That is, the rabbit still blinks to the air puff but not to the tone.
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Williams blinked repeatedly throughout the process, Groves said.
II. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ VERB
make
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The National Museum has an exhibit that makes my eyes blink .
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I had read somewhere that all the greatest discoveries had been made in the blink of an eye.
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Disguise Disguise your steps with feints that make the opponent blink , or which divert his attention elsewhere.
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It was a sixty watt bulb but after the darkness it made everyone blink .
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Every blink conforms to the causal laws of this physical movement.
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I had read somewhere that all the greatest discoveries had been made in the blink of an eye.
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In the corner of his eye Ezra saw the answer light, a blink in open water.
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Just a slow blink and a shuffling step backward.
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The mayor declared with nary a blink .