I. adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a false/empty/hollow promise (= one that will not be kept )
▪
I didn’t make any false promises.
an empty chair (= with no one using it )
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She came and sat in an empty chair beside me.
an empty gesture (= something you do that does not achieve anything important )
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The President's attempt at negotiation was an empty gesture which failed to satisfy his critics.
an empty slogan (= a slogan that promises something which is not actually done )
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We want real progress, not just empty slogans.
an empty space
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Another day we returned to find an empty space where the TV should have been.
an empty/idle threat (= one that is not sincere )
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She was not a woman to make idle threats.
an empty/idle/vain boast (= a false statement that something is good or possible )
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‘Making knowledge work’ is the university’s phrase, and it is no idle boast not a boast, but true .
an empty/vacant seat
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Patrick spotted an empty seat near the back.
deserted/empty (= with no one on it )
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We took a boat to a deserted beach.
drain/empty a cup (= drink all the coffee, tea etc in it )
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He lifted his cup of coffee and drained it.
empty a bag
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I've emptied my bags and I still can't find it.
empty calories (= that do not contain anything good for your body )
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Sugary drinks are full of empty calories.
empty (= with no food in )
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It was 11 o'clock, and my stomach was empty.
empty (= that no one is using )
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There are one or two empty desks in the office.
empty (= with no buildings or people in it )
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Outside the city there was nothing but empty desert.
empty
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A girl was clearing away the empty cups.
empty/deserted (= with no people )
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As he walked home, the street was deserted.
leave sth open/empty/untidy etc
▪
I wish you’d stop leaving the door open.
lie empty/open/hidden etc
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The book lay open on the table.
move/empty/open your bowels (= get rid of solid waste from your body )
stand empty/idle (= not being used )
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scores of derelict houses standing empty
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I’m not too thrilled with the way things stand the state that the situation is in at the moment.
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The evidence, as it stands as it is now , cannot be conclusive.
turn out/empty your pockets (= take everything out of your pockets in order to find something )
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His mother made him turn out his pockets.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
almost
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The medical staff dining room was almost empty , and the last group of people were just leaving.
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Hey, B4., your glass is almost empty .
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The hotel was almost empty and all the young men had been drafted into the army.
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It was Monday night, and the restaurant was dark and almost empty , except for four men at a table.
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Mary waggled an almost empty glass at them.
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It was almost empty , there was nobody around to check with and they duly boarded.
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The classroom was almost empty , save for a cluster of little girls who sat at one table rolling and pummeling clay.
nearly
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The heat of the day had been replaced by searing cold and the bus was nearly empty .
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It was early, and the place was nearly empty .
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The barrel was nearly empty and I had to climb right inside to get my apple.
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The room was cold, quiet and nearly empty .
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Copacabana's tourist hotels are nearly empty .
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He shook out a handful of painkillers - the box was nearly empty .
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The restaurant was nearly empty now.
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But in Kemerovo, where he lives with his wife and three children, the shops are nearly empty .
■ NOUN
air
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Between them girders and gantries of black iron ran like gigantic roadways spanning gulfs of empty air .
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The empty air was still vibrating slightly with the suppressed fidgets of children.
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He was suddenly free, thrusting at empty air .
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She felt weightless as they pitched into empty air .
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CI5's fingers had closed on empty air .
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It gave a last deep cry, its teeth closed on the empty air , and it fell to the ground.
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John spun on his heel and ran back to the banister, his fist closing on empty air behind the moving figure.
bottle
▪
D'Arcy saw the two wine goblets on the table; the empty bottle of Haut-Brion.
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I loved to pick through trash piles and collect empty bottles , tin cans with Pretty labels, and discarded magazines.
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He took the empty bottle and went into the school garden.
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The almost empty bottle of Scotch was in keeping with Moore, and so was one glass.
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So now the movie houses are taking empty bottles as payment, turning them back in to the bottlers for cash.
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In front of each team at a distance of about two yards, place a mirror, a spoon an empty bottle or jar.
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They put it into an empty bottle of 7-Up, where it was visible from the bed, like a lamp.
chair
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Sometimes children must wait for an empty chair at the milk table before they can sit down.
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There was a big table and an empty chair beside her.
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As he gazed now at the empty chair , he knew there was no time for doubt.
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Seeing an empty chair one day, she walked over and sat down amid bewildered stares from the hot-stove regulars.
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Xanthe ambled in in a tousled yawning state and yesterday's clothes and flopped into the empty chair beside Filmer.
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The groups obediently broke up as the women scattered to find empty chairs .
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He removed his straw hat and placed it on the empty chair beside him.
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I drop my stuff on an empty chair and slide into the water before the old man can catch up.
cup
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John took the empty cups down below and placed them quietly in the small sink.
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Two of the remaining empty cups should be placed on each sheet of paper.
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Under the chair, between his legs, were his helmet and an empty cup and saucer.
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She placed her empty cup on the table and rose to her feet.
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The tramp tossed the empty cup away and shuffled off in the other direction.
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My only props were an empty cup and saucer, a telephone and a lifetime of past experience.
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I tucked her in and took the empty cup to the kitchen.
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He sipped his cocoa and placed the empty cup on his plate.
glass
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Mary waggled an almost empty glass at them.
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Impatiently he signaled for another drink, scooping the air over his empty glass .
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William took her empty glass and put it with his on the bedside table.
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Heather flung her empty glass at the wall.
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It started in Fat Harry's, long after the nominal closing time, across a table littered with empty glasses .
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Pressed against the radiator, he eyed a man banging his forehead against the rim of his empty glass .
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Their empty glasses were still on the coffee-table, reminding her of the night before.
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As he did, Jack tossed his drink at Billy and lunged at his face with the empty glass .
hand
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He spread his empty hands to show her he meant no harm.
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No less afraid and angry were the other nations of the world, following the drama with open eyes and empty hands .
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I came into it naked and with empty hands .
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He showed his empty hands , made a move, and displayed a pair of glass earrings.
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In horrified disbelief he stared at his empty hand .
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To harmonise mind and body, this is the true essence of karate-do: the empty hand way.
house
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Rents were again strictly controlled, and empty houses were requisitioned.
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Further, he received nourishment at the empty house of Cori Pollenwith the daylight door.
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Drew looked at the empty house .
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Those empty houses bore mute witness to the violence of the times.
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It will banish any anxieties that you may have about being alone at night or coming home to an empty house .
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He could not have stayed in his empty house .
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Obediently he went out and moved it round the back of the empty house next door.
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There was no elderly widow to con, but there was an empty house , and one he knew well.
lot
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By the 1960s, the red brick city was mottled with decaying buildings and empty lots .
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Across an empty lot , on the other side, was an Ames supermarket.
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He stood out on the empty lot , flickering lights of a passing train blessing him.
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Ben was starting to say something else when he slowed down by an empty lot .
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There was an empty lot there full of overgrown weeds and crunchy brown grass and the shattered remnants of a shack.
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There are plenty of empty lots , you know.
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Found murdered, unidentified eighteen-year old male in empty lot on Jackson Avenue, South Bronx.
nest
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No one ever told me either that a stepmother could suffer so badly from empty nest syndrome.
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There will be no empty nest , no shedding of familial responsibilities and expense.
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I am swimming away from my friends' deaths, from depression and an empty nest .
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Many women enjoy an empty nest .
place
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Five tired, unhappy men, in the coldest, emptiest place on earth.
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First Stevie departed, leaving me and Amy to cry over his empty place at table, then Amy followed him.
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There was an empty place at the bottom of the table.
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I found myself standing in a huge empty place with signs and arrows everywhere on the floors and walls.
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They talked about their day, and tried to ignore the empty place at the head of the table.
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By tomorrow night Wimbledon was going to be an easier, cleaner, emptier place in which to live.
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From whatever inaccessible pit of bitterness the words reached out to touch an empty place in her own life.
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It's an empty place , me and the sky.
plate
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Louis sat listlessly in his place opposite his dead wife's high-backed chair and empty plate .
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He removes the empty plates and napkins and cups from the table and tosses them into the bag.
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When we had finished, Jacob took the empty plates away.
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The waiter removed their empty plates and brought huge portions of southern-fried chicken.
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The manservant came in, cleared the empty plates and brought a great bowlful of pears and hothouse peaches.
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He pushed the empty plate away from him and leaned his arms on the table.
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As he pushed away the empty plates she waited for him to make some comment about the meal.
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As he finished he smiled and handed me the empty plate .
promise
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To all these petitions the Crown returned empty promises of redress.
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This is the circus of empty promises and dry press releases that are part and parcel of meetings like these.
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Maybe, but empty promises are not on the list.
property
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An extra £750m will be used before the end of 1992/93 to buy up some empty properties in the owner-occupied housing sector.
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Then there are the moves to buy up empty properties and for temporary increases in local authority investment.
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Discounts for empty properties will be assessed at 50 percent.
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The Government must discontinue their stupid propaganda about empty properties and do something about them.
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But, as I understand it, the present legislation insists that all empty properties will be assessed at 50 percent.
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Looks at evidence of abandonment including empty property , declining property values, and demolition.
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If the landlord proves the stronger, the draftsman should make provision for the assessment of rent for empty property .
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The fire spread into the roof of an adjoining empty property .
road
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There were just the mist and the empty roads , and the far-of crowing of cockerels in the dawn.
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I crossed the fields to an empty road .
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He stepped aside and the auburn-haired girl strode forward into the empty road carrying the roses loosely in her arm.
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The empty road ran through thick jungle.
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He pulled on a beret and stared down the empty road , then he checked his watch, frowning.
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Laverne zips across the empty road , the airborne snakes skim along after him.
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Rain sped along the wide empty road between the blue sea and the high mountains where ochre patches were precarious villages.
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Caro dreamed she was driving along a straight empty road .
room
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A large, empty room with high, narrow windows through which the bright day filtered slowly on to various shades of brown.
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The main character is now standing in a bright, empty room with black and white floor tiles.
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What does it mean, standing there in the empty room , bigger than a man?
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His voice echoed through the empty room .
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Each empty room made the next door yet more threatening.
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We stepped in cautiously and discovered a series of bare, empty rooms .
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The empty room mocked him, emphasised the lost vitality of her presence.
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To prove this, a photographer took a black-and-white picture of a chair in an empty room .
seat
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If you are going to reach people through the media, never have many empty seats .
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They were sitting in the front row, talking to each other over two empty seats .
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The many empty seats in the chamber attested to the opposition the proposals will receive as they are debated in coming weeks.
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First off, there were a good number of empty seats .
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The questioner should move to an empty seat as far away as possible.
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Primo waves his hand at his own reflection and that of the empty seat on the opposite side of the aisle.
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Her bêtenoire eased his long frame into the empty seat across the aisle.
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The same losing team they were with Wayne Gretzky, and many more empty seats .
shell
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Database Database programs are often described as empty shell , content-free and cross-curricular software.
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Even empty shells serve as some animals' homes.
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Your local dealer should have some empty shells for it to grow into.
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Many are in parks and preserves, where those empty shells are safeguarded.
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Do not buy snails from a tank containing empty shells or dead snails.
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During the course of psychotherapy, it quickly became apparent to Tom that his marriage was a pretty empty shell .
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Only the husk, the empty shell of what they'd come for.
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But the alert was called off when it was identified as a dummy empty shell .
space
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He's not human; he's an empty space disguised as a human.
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You can click on an empty space on the desktop and bring up the Task Manager.
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I want you to go over to that empty space and turn around in it a few times.
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She saw an empty space on the walls and demanded to know where the picture was.
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Prosperity was an endless prairie, and corporations expanded almost exponentially to fill those empty spaces .
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They did away with the ether 100 years ago or so, and settled for empty space .
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Does not empty space whirl continually about us?
stomach
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No use mourning on an empty stomach .
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The wine Adrienne had kept passing to her was taking hold of an empty stomach .
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An empty stomach and the pain of her ankle had been too much for her.
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I tend to be very short-tempered on an empty stomach .
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She got it shut, and leaning with difficulty to the jolting bowl, she vomited colourless fluids from her empty stomach .
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She saw an empty stomach , her cause for existence.
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Besides, he had chosen a tasty nourishing meal which would not lie too heavily on her achingly empty stomach .
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Alendronate must be taken only with a full glass of plain water, first thing in the morning on an empty stomach .
street
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Down in the housing scheme there was hardly a noise; the lamps fizzed quietly on the empty street .
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He gazed down the empty street , and then across it to the marsh, and saw her.
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Now she was rattling along the empty streets , the horse's hooves sounding sharp and crisp in the silence.
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Ralph waved at the empty street awhile; even the gas fumes seemed to be evaporating before he was ready.
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It was a strange feeling to see the military patrols in the empty streets on election day, 15 February 1996.
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The rain fell on empty streets .
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Air-raid wardens in tin helmets watched the skies and silence descended on the empty streets .
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But all at once, then, there on that apparently empty street , I smelled an impossible aroma.
word
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He expected her to trust him, but as far as she could see they were just empty words .
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Hadn't he said that to express it would be just empty words ?
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These are not empty words and phrases, but principles given powerful institutional sanction.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
do sth on an empty stomach
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Alendronate must be taken only with a full glass of plain water, first thing in the morning on an empty stomach .
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I mean, neither of us had eaten since the early hours, and drinking on an empty stomach is dodgy.
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I tend to be very short-tempered on an empty stomach .
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No use mourning on an empty stomach .
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The next two got off more lightly: two spoonfuls of vinegar three times a day, also on an empty stomach .
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The sensation of nausea on an empty stomach was peculiarly unpleasant.
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There was little point, Manville decided, on a man eating on an empty stomach .
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They report to work at 8.30am on an empty stomach .
sb sees the glass as half-empty/half-full
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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After the divorce, he felt alone and empty .
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an empty canvas with a few red blobs in the centre
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Could you pick up the empty beer cans over there?
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Half the classroom was empty .
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He stared at the empty page. The test was nearly over, and he hadn't managed to answer any of the questions.
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I hate coming home to an empty house late at night.
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I noticed her glass was empty , and offered her some more wine.
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I think there's an empty seat in the back row.
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I was surprised that the train was half empty at that time of day.
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Is this seat empty ?
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It was 2 o'clock in the morning and the streets were completely empty .
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My footsteps echoed across the empty room.
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Police say the shot was fired from an empty office building across the street.
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The house was empty for two months before it was sold.
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There was nothing at all in the room except an empty cupboard.
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There were two empty beer bottles on the table.
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They have three empty rooms now that the kids have moved out.
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We've only got one bottle of milk left, and that's half empty .
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We were a little worried to find that half the seats in the theatre were empty .
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
And his pictures were rather empty .
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As we did, I looked out in the bleachers, which were totally empty .
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Despite a huge investment, they have come up empty .
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He sipped his cocoa and placed the empty cup on his plate.
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Large areas of the room were simply empty .
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The small company of members looked completely dwarfed in the vast, cavernous space of the almost empty concert hall.
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Then I walked across empty fields for some hours until I reached a village.
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They were young children under a sky that was empty of electromagnetic waves.
II. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
out
▪
All the pubs and clubs empty out at the same time.
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Theresa emptied out her sweater drawer.
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This is set on one side to start again after emptying out your reward, the valuable compost.
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I wanted the city to empty out and leave us alone for ever.
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I slipped it back into its proper place, noting that the suspicious-minded Rico had emptied out all the shells.
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Fifi continues to pack from a pile of clothes she has emptied out of her drawers on to the floor.
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Only once the real meaning has been systematically emptied out of commodities does advertising then refill this void with its own symbols.
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As the waitress removes the plates, I notice the restaurant is emptying out .
■ NOUN
ashtray
▪
She came up with a routine for visiting the tables, and even managed to empty a few ashtrays .
▪
There were waiters everywhere, coming and going all during the meal, emptying ashtrays , filling our glasses of water.
▪
For example, if he had to smoke in her flat, he could at least have the decency to empty the ashtray .
▪
Duncan was coming closer with the brush and a big bucket, emptying ashtrays and mopping things.
bladder
▪
Then, next time you go to the toilet, try this stop test half way through emptying your bladder .
▪
Marlin was taking his time emptying his bladder .
▪
Subjects then emptied their bladders , saving a sample of urine.
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By the age of 3 years most children can voluntarily initiate emptying a full bladder and later a partly full bladder.
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As he emptied his bladder he stared at his face in the shaving mirror.
bottle
▪
He emptied a bottle of white rum into a sticky pineapple brew.
▪
The long trek in hot weather sapped our energy and emptied our water bottles .
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One night, I emptied a ninety dollar bottle of cognac into him.
contents
▪
Then Paul saw that he had emptied all the contents , and that the bottle was now empty.
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She was emptying the contents of a stone mortar, a tobacco-colored crush of leaves, on to a scrap of coarse paper.
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Sitting down opposite without a word he picked up the glass and emptied the contents down his throat.
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They emptied the contents of one tanker into two smaller ones already on the base.
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Lorton emptied the contents on to the table.
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I filled a glass with water, emptied the contents of the bottle into it, and drank it down.
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She wanted to empty the contents of the tin into the sink and flush it away.
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They were eventually repulsed by troops, but a military storeroom was emptied of its contents in the melee.
glass
▪
She wiped her lips on a vast white napkin and emptied her glass of wine.
mind
▪
The chair against the wall, which was the only thing to come close to helping him empty his mind .
▪
Take a sheet of paper before going in to any negotiation and empty your mind on to the sheet of paper.
▪
When I try and empty my own mind , every bit of detritus in the world sails by.
▪
He ordered her to empty her pockets on the carpet in front of her.
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This is the only place in the world where they empty your pockets and press your pants at the same time.
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He made piles of quarters in his sock drawer when he emptied his pockets at night.
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He would take a long time emptying his pockets of change, shedding his clothes, asking me where his pajamas were.
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But the sooner he emptied the inside pocket of his jacket, the better.
▪
Once again masked gunmen appeared, lined up all the passengers, and emptied their pockets of valuables.
▪
He had emptied their pockets and thrown away their hope.
▪
When Grandma understood what the man said about wanting to search me, she told me to empty my pockets .
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
"See you," he called, emptying his glass and making for the door.
▪
By the autumn, the hotels along the sea front were emptying, and the town became quiet again.
▪
Could you empty the wastebasket - it's getting pretty full.
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On Saturday night, most of the clubs empty at around 3 am.
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Paul emptied the glass and washed it.
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She emptied the contents of the tin into a pan.
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The garbage cans are emptied once a week.
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The judge emptied the courtroom when fighting almost broke out between members of the defendant's family.
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The police made us stand against the wall and told us to empty our pockets.
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We crept up behind him and emptied the bucket of water over his head.
▪
When we reached Dortmund the carriage emptied, and I was left alone.
▪
You can empty those glasses out in the sink.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
Alice hurriedly put out the cigarette and got up to empty the ash tray.
▪
Alternatively, you will need to empty the bath and refill it with clean water.
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It was absolutely pouring down as though some one up top was emptying buckets.
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Once again masked gunmen appeared, lined up all the passengers, and emptied their pockets of valuables.
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She came up with a routine for visiting the tables, and even managed to empty a few ashtrays.
▪
The chair against the wall, which was the only thing to come close to helping him empty his mind.
▪
Then, next time you go to the toilet, try this stop test half way through emptying your bladder.