I. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a spot of bother (= some problems )
▪
I’ve been having a spot of bother with my car.
save sb the trouble/bother (of doing sth)
▪
I’ll get a taxi from the station to save you the trouble of coming to collect me.
Sorry to bother you
▪
Sorry to bother you , but what was the address again?
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
about
▪
Owen began to hope that they viewed the incident as too small to bother about .
▪
These really are environmental concerns worth bothering about .
▪
Aunt Tossie was deep in talk with a friend she hadn't bothered about for years.
▪
No one's bothered about the Council any more!
▪
She said she had no close relations to bother about on her husband's side and only the Evans on hers.
▪
After dinner, nothing seemed worth bothering about .
▪
In any case I wasn't bothered about it one way or the other.
▪
They feel nothing they do is important enough for their parents to bother about .
even
▪
Don't even bother to phone.
▪
We never even bothered to sleep.
▪
Many men simply assume that women are on the Pill and don't even bother to ask.
▪
We might not even bother to vote.
▪
The reviewer hadn't even bothered to check on basic personal details.
▪
Why even bother consummating that which was destined to be a failed romance?
▪
Papers abroad realised they just could not match us - and didn't even bother to try.
▪
She didn't even bother to move the bike.
ever
▪
We mustn't ever bother with that.
▪
I never did see the point in Las Vegas and no one ever bothered to explain it to me.
▪
Have you ever bothered to ask?
▪
Only fifty or so students ever bothered to graduate.
▪
If you could surf who would ever bother writing?
▪
Because the signs had been there all the time if she'd ever bothered to look further than his surface charm.
▪
Since when were you ever bothered about my feelings?
▪
That'd be the reason, though nobody had ever bothered to inform him.
never
▪
They never bothered that we were just spectating-we were driving a bright red Carrera 911 with a great exhaust note!
▪
It was like that all over the WestBrakemen never bothered you in those days.
▪
The many tracks through the woods make it easy to get lost - but that's never bothered me.
▪
He was never bothered by wild animals, either.
▪
Of all the people I have met on my travels only one had never bothered with it.
▪
After that, he never bothered her.
▪
Men, their height, their masculine authority, never bothered Maggie.
▪
I never bother lying to Arthur.
really
▪
Kerry says it wouldn't really bother her.
▪
And what really bothers me now is to see our son drifting away from us.
▪
But they didn't really bother .
▪
And so you really bother your head a great deal over the Galactic Spirit, do you?
▪
Let me tell you what really bothers me about that brigand more than his plagiarizing.
▪
I betook myself to bed in some exasperation, and without really bothering to get undressed.
▪
What really bothered me about the letter were his personal remarks about Tom.
too
▪
There was the usual sniping, but no one seemed to be bothering too much.
▪
And he certainly isn't too bothered whether that water is in a proper paddling pool or a washing-up bowl!
▪
Half the teachers in the school think say me a half-breed so they don't too bother me.
▪
Jess saw him coming, but was too bothered by the scrape she and Midnight were in to take any notice.
▪
For his part, he wasn't too bothered .
why
▪
Why bother having an outside bell if the delicious Private Boyd was sitting on reception?
▪
Such problems in expressing the insight arising out of experience cause some people to ask: Why bother ?
▪
Why bother with the news now?
▪
As anyone who hasn't been in a coma for the last ten years knows as much anyway, why bother ?
▪
Until we do, why bother about banning plays?
▪
Many companies are worried by the worker-participation clauses: if they are really so flexible, why bother with them at all?
▪
If paper does not rot, why bother to substitute it for plastic?
▪
Why bother with all that effort, when a meaning can be found fairly easily and obviously?
■ VERB
let
▪
Don't let him bother you.
▪
We were too busy admiring the town to let their griping bother us.
▪
Lois wondered now why she ever let these things bother her.
seem
▪
They didn't seem to be very bothered about issues other than what was going on in the village itself.
▪
None of this seems to bother him.
▪
But what is striking now is that neither side seems bothered about disguising those differences.
▪
The simplicity of his cuisine did not seem to bother him, but I felt sad for him.
▪
After dinner, nothing seemed worth bothering about.
▪
All the same he seemed popular backstage and the girls liked him, but he didn't seem to bother much about them.
▪
Numbers don't seem to bother him.
▪
Oddly, they did not seem to bother the horses.
want
▪
They did not want to be bothered with her joys and despairs and she did not want to be bothered with theirs.
▪
The companies we dealt with didn't want to be bothered with small orders from small shops any more.
▪
It's inedible, but who would want to bother anyway, since they are at most two inches high!
▪
She didn't want you bothered .
▪
Who wants to bother with hot, sticky socks or stockings when the sun is beating down?
▪
Some home managers or owners say they don't want to bother residents with this sort of thing.
wonder
▪
I parted some grass and wondered why Cawthorne had bothered to run electric and telephone cables to a disused toilet for farmhands.
▪
Such noises made Wyatt wonder if Cyril bothered to use the clutch at all or had resolved somehow to do without it.
▪
If you have a weak stomach you may wonder why you bothered to come at all.
▪
I was left to wonder why I bothered to be born. 19.
▪
He wondered why she bothered to come back at all.
▪
They wondered why Dov Kalmenzohn bothered with me.
▪
For an instant, he wondered why he bothered .
▪
If Serif had shared your opinion about PagePlus 1.2, you might wonder why they bothered to produce a version 2 at all.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
hot and bothered
▪
I sit, all hot and bothered, suffering, and mention this.
▪
It was too unsettling, made her feel too hot and bothered.
▪
Not everyone, however, is hot and bothered.
▪
She had got herself all hot and bothered and she felt much safer in the water than she had in the barn.
not bothered
▪
He is not bothered in the slightest by the dark or confrontation.
▪
I have challenged the prospective Labour candidate in Harrow, West to do so, but he has not bothered to reply.
▪
Or has he not bothered to work it out?
▪
Selfishly, I felt hurt that he had not bothered to get in touch with me.
▪
The National Capital Planning Commission, peering far into an imaginary future, is not bothered with such real-life difficulties.
▪
The purpose of the purchase, according to the magazine, was to ensure that the Chiracs were not bothered by neighbours.
▪
We are also not bothered about being famous or number one in the charts.
▪
You are not bothered whether the house is detached or semi-detached, but you do not want to live on an estate.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
"Why didn't you ask me for help?" "I didn't want to bother you."
▪
Actually, my back hasn't been bothering me.
▪
Excuse me, Miss, is that man bothering you?
▪
Something's bothering him but I'm not sure what.
▪
Sorry to bother you, but could you help me one more time with the copier?
▪
The only thing that bothers me is how I'm going to get from the station to the farm.
▪
What bothers me is that you didn't feel you could talk to me or your father about it.
▪
Will it bother you if I play some music?
▪
Will you stop bothering me? I'm trying to watch a program.
▪
You shouldn't let little things like that bother you.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
And it was then she finally asked me a question that has bothered her for twenty years.
▪
Because employers do not bother , the papers can be produced cheaply, so more illegal immigrants come in.
▪
I have challenged the prospective Labour candidate in Harrow, West to do so, but he has not bothered to reply.
▪
Irate customers who bother to complain to their local water executives will be told the rises are no higher than were forecast.
▪
Just because you live alone does not mean that you should not bother .
▪
None of which may initially bother the Western Koi-keeper, whose main concern is to provide good water quality for his fish.
▪
You don't hand your homework in on time, or you don't even bother to do it.
▪
You know the story by heart.-Then why did you bother in the first place?
II. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ VERB
save
▪
So choose electric storage heating and save time, bother , and expense.
▪
Because there was neither carriage nor honeymoon Harry was saved the bother of providing sacks of rose-petal confetti.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
I can pick up a letter there without any bother .
▪
It was enough bother having to share my mum and my dad.
▪
It was not so much that she distrusted banks as the bother for the visit.
▪
New husbands could be a bother sometimes.
▪
Still keeps all the lights out at night in case the bother starts again.
▪
Unfortunately the bits in between are hard work and ultimately are not really worth the bother .