I. adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a block of flats British English
▪
Three new blocks of flats were built on the land.
a flat cap ( also a cloth cap ) British English (= made of cloth with a stiff piece that sticks out at the front )
▪
We saw an old man in a jacket and a brown flat cap.
a flat plain
▪
Here a group of small hills rises unexpectedly out of the flat plain.
a flat (rate) tax (= a tax that is the same for different people or things )
▪
Corporate taxes are to be abolished and replaced by a flat rate tax.
a flat roof
▪
She used to sunbathe on the flat roof.
a flat screen television
▪
a buyer’s guide to the latest flat screen televisions
a flat tyre (= one which the air has come out of )
▪
I had a flat tyre and had to walk home.
a flat/fixed rate (= one that does not change )
▪
Profits were taxed at a flat rate of 45 percent.
a flat/fixed/set fee (= a fee that is the same in every case )
▪
You pay a flat fee for all the services that are provided.
a flat/outright refusal (= definite and direct )
▪
She had not anticipated a flat refusal.
a joke falls flat (= people don’t find a joke funny )
▪
His practical jokes usually fell flat.
bachelor flat
dead straight/flat
▪
The countryside around here is dead flat all the way to the sea.
flat cap
flat feet
flat on...back
▪
Johnny was lying flat on his back in the middle of the floor.
flat racing
flat shoes (= with no high heel )
▪
Flat shoes are much more comfortable for walking in.
flat (= having a medical condition in which someone’s feet rest flat on the ground, with no curved part )
▪
We’ve both got slightly flat feet.
flat British English , dead American English (= with no more electricity in it )
▪
I'd left the headlights on and the battery was completely flat.
flat
▪
Put the compass on a flat surface.
flat/stony broke (= completely broke )
granny flat
house/flat/room mate (= someone you share a house, room etc with )
Lay...flat
▪
Lay the material flat on the table.
penthouse apartment/flat/suite
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
perfectly
▪
The lower cut must be perfectly flat and angled to match the oblique cut on the rootstock.
▪
You saw a perfectly flat , formless nothing.
▪
Don't be over-concerned if the ground in front of you doesn't seem perfectly flat .
▪
The surface need not be perfectly flat or smooth.
▪
Make sure the lining is lying perfectly flat and smooth against blind fabric and square to it.
▪
I can flood the paper using this frame and be sure that once dry it will return to a perfectly flat surface.
■ NOUN
battery
▪
Read in studio An inquest has been told that a plane crashed because it had a flat battery .
▪
Most mail bombs contain a flat battery , like the type used in watches.
▪
Mr Andrews, of Pyle, Mid-Glamorgan, said yesterday the flat battery meant his daughter arrived five minutes later at hospital.
▪
When we arrived at Selsit, we would exchange the flat battery for a fully charged one and walk back.
▪
He led me to his house and in a few minutes I had diagnosed the trouble - a flat battery .
cap
▪
Seven-six, Rutshire were in the lead - the ground erupted, flat caps were being hurled in the air.
▪
Glancing towards the car park, I am transfixed by the sight of a man in a flat cap cleaning our car.
▪
Newley was wearing a flat cap made of tweed.
▪
He was holding a flat cap full of coins.
▪
He was wearing a flat cap , a suit and a choker, and there were dock gates in the background.
▪
An elderly man in flat cap and going-out clothes was leaning against the fence, stick hanging from a crooked elbow.
fee
▪
One, for the World Resources Institute, compared ten cities that had pay-to-throw schemes with four others that charged flat fees .
▪
Girobank charges a flat fee of £5 per draft and Barclays £9.
▪
You can either pay a flat fee for your access or pay per megabyte of traffic coming down your line.
▪
At present, they pay a flat fee for a license.
foot
▪
I thought your flat feet were firmly on the ground and your grubby little fingers always ready to grab the golden egg.
▪
Carla Sloane was out on the lane, her huge flat feet surrounded by cases, umbrella and bags.
▪
He strutted about the office on his flat feet and smiled too much.
▪
At school they had once heard of some animal which had become extinct because of its huge flat feet .
▪
Fagg fitted in: his eyesight was very poor and he had flat feet .
land
▪
It is sited unusually, on flat land rather than atop one of the encircling hills.
▪
The alternative was to ride along the main highways, which tend to hug the flat land along valley bottoms.
▪
This covers a large portion of flat land and could take the largest planes available, even by today's standards.
▪
They looked large against the light pouring down over the flat land .
▪
Just the other side of the Humber estuary another long distance path heads through the flat lands of the Lincolnshire Wolds.
▪
They are situated on a slight south-east incline amidst surrounding flat lands .
rate
▪
Flat rate farmers will have to issue invoices for all supplies of goods and services where the flat rate addition is added.
▪
The phone company said the flat rate is an addition to its Sprint Sense program, which it began a year ago.
▪
Class 2 contributions are payable at a flat rate while Class 4 contributions are payable as a percentage of profits.
▪
Forbes wanted to simplify filing taxes by narrowing the current five rates to a single flat rate.
▪
More than three out of five taxpayers pay a flat rate of 15 percent already.
▪
Therefore, an 11 percent flat rate theoretically would yield the same amount.
▪
It will cost a flat rate of £39.99 per month, which includes line rental and installation.
▪
Forbes, who is calling for a 17 percent flat rate , would not tax dividends, interest or capital gains.
roof
▪
Since we now insulate above loft ceilings and within flat roof structures, the air space above the insulation is cold.
▪
Those buildings include triple deckers with flat roofs and large roofs such as those on department stores and supermarkets.
▪
Roofs , particularly flat roofs, can be damaged as a result of weight of snow lying on them.
▪
An adobe box is what it is, with flat roof and copper spouts to drain rainwater at either corner.
▪
There had once been an outside staircase leading up to the flat roof but that, too, had collapsed.
▪
The new, improved materials available have gone a long way towards extending the lifespan of today's flat roof .
▪
This is labour intensive and a suitable flat roof site has to be found.
▪
Which has a flat roof behind a parapet so you can't see it from the street.
stone
▪
Philip worked a flat stone out of the earth by the roots of the beech tree.
▪
Kali sat down on a flat stone , sighing with relief.
▪
A large circular flat stone on the green is said to be the remains of the market cross.
▪
Spawning is easy, so provide flat stones for spawning sites.
▪
Under rubble in bomb-sites and they didn't get any nice flat stone with writing either.
▪
It had plucked Mariana from the pillion seat, skittering her against the current like a flat stone skipped across a pond.
▪
There were some blankets on a flat stone where the man slept.
▪
You can often find a colony by looking under large flat stones , planks of wood or rubble lying on the soil.
surface
▪
But then she realized that laid out before her was a flat surface .
▪
When a circularly polarized signal is reflected from a flat surface , the direction of polarization is reversed.
▪
If the strip becomes curled when you cut it, put it on a hard flat surface and hammer it flat.
▪
Soften the lemon by rolling it back and forth along a flat surface .
▪
Place the sensor on a flat surface and rotate it slowly through 360°.
▪
Gently press down to form an even, flat surface .
▪
He was already advancing up the truck as Ward slithered down on to the flat surface of it.
▪
Meanwhile, take cookies and place them in a plastic bag on a flat surface .
tax
▪
Voters who prefer a flat tax think it will lead to a rising standard of living, according to the poll.
▪
Forbes' campaign maintains that his ideas, including his call for a flat tax , are powering his rise.
▪
The real question for Bob Dole is: Does he support a flat tax that is a tax cut?
▪
The poll showed the publicity about Forbes' candidacy and the flat tax is registering with Californians.
▪
In Colorado, the number of voters backing the flat tax rose to 60 percent.
▪
Former rival Steve Forbes has urged Dole to adopt the flat tax idea that was central to Forbes' presidential campaign.
▪
First of all, the mandate would look like a flat tax on each worker.
tire
▪
He had no useful information about the shooting that took place nearby as Cosby changed a flat tire , police said.
▪
If you have a flat tire , stuff like that happens.
▪
The doctoral student was apparently attempting to change a flat tire when his assailant struck.
▪
She explains to Jose that they have a flat tire and muse go back down the road to the big house.
▪
Suppose he had a flat tire ?
▪
Tight shoes A motorcycle with two flat tires .
▪
In the above case, it would be contextually inappropriate to be only reporting a flat tire at a gas station.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
be (flat) on your back
▪
He's been flat on his back in the hospital for a week..
▪
After I was on its back , we all took off again on a run.
▪
Her eyes opened; she was on her back .
▪
His father was on his back night and day.
▪
The child was on her back , unconscious.
▪
The jelly cupboard was on its back , its contents lying in a heap in the corner of the bottom shelf.
▪
The result is that the liter pop bottle you tossed out six months ago may be on your back today.
▪
The sun was on his back as he swung himself over her and her long legs parted in expectation.
▪
What else would he need if he were going to be flat on his back or stomach?
fall flat
▪
At first, Gorbachev's political ideas fell flat.
▪
Koppel's clumsy joke fell flat.
▪
Your joke about the nuns really fell flat, didn't it?
▪
But the hopes fell flat, and private funding for vaccine work is drying up.
▪
He has been Navajo president for one year, and his efforts to decentralize tribal government so far have fallen flat.
▪
However, if your suggestion falls flat, he may not be ready to try another until the 21st century.
▪
I knew it would fall flat; but it wasn't the bad script which made the film unsuccessful.
▪
Yet there are certain composers who fall flat on their face unless the adrenalin really start to flow.
flatter yourself
▪
"I think you like me more than you'll admit." "Don't flatter yourself."
▪
He flattered himself that he would discover a twin soul in the famous Rifleman.
▪
I don't flatter myself that she was eager to take my name.
▪
Indeed Karelius, in opera cloak and one of Aranyos' dandyish suits, flattered himself he looked as distinguished as any.
▪
She had got bored by herself - and, if I flatter myself, there was a tinge of concern for me.
▪
Should we flatter ourselves that our descendants will find our concerns of the utmost importance?
▪
So I don't flatter myself that some one who gets my beliefs will automatically get true ones.
▪
The most that I can claim or flatter myself with, is to be of the middle rank....
house/flat share
▪
In the wall both houses shared there was a little chink.
▪
Many brokerage house shares were also lower.
▪
The facility also houses shared and dedicated web hosting servers.
house/flat with vacant possession
in/into a (flat) spin
▪
After decent dousing on Splash Mountain, need to go into spin cycle to dry off.
▪
At four hundred feet he hadn't enough altitude from which he could recover if he went into a spin .
▪
But Yoyo, just frozen in a spin , happens to look up and see him.
▪
EuroDisney, ahead of Thursday's figures, was in a spin .
▪
Incidentally, if an aircraft is very difficult to get into a spin , it also may be very difficult to recover.
▪
The tundras will drag you into a spin .
job-hunting/house-hunting/flat-hunting
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
a flat , sandy beach
▪
Cambridge is very flat and you can see for miles.
▪
Focaccia, an Italian flat bread, has become very popular for sandwiches.
▪
Home prices have stayed flat for the past year.
▪
I don't know why some English people prefer flat beer.
▪
Stack the crepes on a flat plate.
▪
That champagne must have gone flat by now
▪
The game just seemed kind of flat , like they didn't care.
▪
The horn was a little flat .
▪
This Coke is completely flat .
▪
We sat down on a big flat rock.
▪
We swam out to a flat rock to sunbathe.
▪
Worries over the economy have kept attendance flat at California's theme parks.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
If by fair you mean that everyone pays the same proportion of his income in taxes, the flat tax comes closer.
▪
Investors on Wall Street applauded the results, even though sales at stores open at least a year were essentially flat .
▪
It was flat and smooth under her thick gray cotton underpants.
▪
Roofs, particularly flat roofs, can be damaged as a result of weight of snow lying on them.
▪
Tails are assumed to act as stiff flat plates with continuous surfaces.
▪
There was a neat solid bulge where her flat belly had been.
▪
Would a flat tax save taxpayers money and time, or is it a rip-off that would help only the rich?
II. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
small
▪
Rita in her small flat is typical.
▪
Jacqueline lives simply in a small Antwerp flat .
▪
Mrs Smith is a widow living in a small council flat in Bermondsey.
▪
Alek had a small lovely flat and listened to Tchaikovsky on the phonograph.
▪
Couple 2 - A married young couple who are decorating a small flat .
▪
He had a small flat in a converted terrace house.
▪
And so they moved, with no master plan in mind, first to their small flat in Brussels.
▪
Constanza took a small flat of her own.
■ NOUN
basement
▪
Keith leaves his basement flat in plenty of time.
▪
They lived in a basement flat in South London then, he, his wife, and the two little girls.
▪
He stood almost on the same spot as before, and watched the lighted windows of a basement flat across the way.
▪
In an urban environment, basement flats are not advisable for the single dweller.
▪
The police report that over 40 percent of burglaries of urban dwellings are break-ins to basement flats .
▪
They arrive at the empty basement flat just after one.
▪
Miss Tan could not be charged with running a brothel because she worked alone in her basement flat .
▪
She has the basement flat and it's always got this sour damp smell even though she burns joss sticks all day long.
mud
▪
Sea-birds, like snowflakes, turned lazily far out over the mud flats ....
▪
It is one of merged meadowlands ending in the great saltings and mud flats and tidal pools near the restless sea.
▪
In some areas, such as a Donna Nook and Theddlethorpe, the sand and mud flats are incredibly vast.
▪
It is, in fact a large, dusty mud flat .
▪
Wading birds collect great quantities of small molluscs from sandbanks and mud flats when the tide retreats.
▪
Cardiff was, of course, built on mud flats , and nature takes a long time to change.
▪
If the mud flats freeze over, it is impossible for them to find sufficient food.
▪
At Grangemouth docks were dug out of the mud flats .
penthouse
▪
Finally his double-barrelled family had stepped in and bought the prodigal a mega-mineral cure and a penthouse flat .
▪
Hence their privileged presence in his penthouse flat .
■ VERB
build
▪
They're going to start building lots of new flats .
▪
They are being replaced by cheaply built one-bedroom flats .
buy
▪
A friend and his wife are having a struggle to buy a flat because so few properties come on the market.
▪
Anybody who is rich can buy a number of flats without government controls; but young couples without savings can afford nothing.
▪
About two months before, I sold almost all my shares in order to buy the flat .
▪
With the legacy she left me when she died I bought the little flat on Fernhill.
▪
Dave Escott bought his flat , leasehold, 5 years ago.
▪
Read in studio A couple who bought a flat which didn't officially exist are still fighting for compensation four years later.
▪
He suffocated her after she accused him of being too mean to buy a £730,000 flat in London's wealthy Belgravia district.
▪
Another way for an investor to limit voids is to buy more than one flat or house.
convert
▪
I lived with Kay in a huge house in London that had been meanly converted into ten flats .
▪
After being converted into flats , the family found 100 building defects costing around 80,000 to put right.
▪
It consisted of two large blocks of buildings which have now been converted into flats .
leave
▪
Keith leaves his basement flat in plenty of time.
▪
He says he left your flat soon after taking you back from dinner.
▪
Crook in particular was anxious to leave the ground floor flat because his windows had been smashed and he had been attacked.
▪
I left the flat for university.
▪
Steer clear of heavy, creamy products which leave hair flat and lifeless.
▪
Her first thought was that she would have to leave the flat .
▪
Tatyana Vysokogorets-Dostoevskaya, 63, never leaves her second-floor flat .
live
▪
Billing people can be difficult, especially if they live in flats .
▪
They lived in a basement flat in South London then, he, his wife, and the two little girls.
▪
We used to live in this poky flat in the middle of London when I was very little.
▪
For the last year we have lived together in my flat .
▪
Why should I have to live in a one-bedroom flat when others have spacious houses?
▪
That was how I came to live in the flats at Annick Water.
▪
When living in his Stirling flat he contrived to flood the downstairs neighbours - three times!
▪
Mr A is 75 and he and his wife live in an upstairs flat .
move
▪
Weeks later, he had finally moved into an independent flat .
▪
She wanted to avoid Oliver, although she was desperate to know that he had moved out of the flat .
▪
And they have vowed to refuse to move back into the flats on Conwy Morfa until their demands are met.
▪
Andrew will shortly be moving into a new flat in Dumbarton.
▪
Last month, in the process of moving flat , my telephone disappeared.
▪
The big news, though, was that Richard and Hudson had moved into their new flat .
▪
That happened to Catherine Lane when she moved out of a London flat .
▪
We wanted very much to ask Eliot round before departure, especially as we had now moved to a bigger flat .
share
▪
Eliot was a lonely man, and Hayward was the only single person he knew with whom he could share a flat .
▪
Soon they were enjoying evenings out together and ended up sharing a flat .
▪
Whatever the nature of their relationship, it was clear that husband and wife had shared the same flat .
▪
Her new secretary was arriving and was going to share her flat for a while.
▪
The two girls who shared the upstairs flat were models, and often travelled abroad on assignments.
▪
They first met when she moved to London to share the flat which her father had bought for her.
stay
▪
They couldn't after all, have stayed in the flat .
▪
What if he had to sit out in the groves or stay flat on his back until she returned?
▪
She knew she would feel slightly better about the situation if he were forcing her to stay at his flat in London.
▪
Oil prices in nominal dollar terms are expected to stay flat , at best, between now and the year 2000.
▪
One night, after an extramural film excursion, Carl stays behind in her flat .
▪
I won't be staying in your flat .
▪
She didn't ask me if I was staying in the flat at Annick Water.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
be (flat) on your back
▪
He's been flat on his back in the hospital for a week..
▪
After I was on its back , we all took off again on a run.
▪
Her eyes opened; she was on her back .
▪
His father was on his back night and day.
▪
The child was on her back , unconscious.
▪
The jelly cupboard was on its back , its contents lying in a heap in the corner of the bottom shelf.
▪
The result is that the liter pop bottle you tossed out six months ago may be on your back today.
▪
The sun was on his back as he swung himself over her and her long legs parted in expectation.
▪
What else would he need if he were going to be flat on his back or stomach?
fall flat
▪
At first, Gorbachev's political ideas fell flat.
▪
Koppel's clumsy joke fell flat.
▪
Your joke about the nuns really fell flat, didn't it?
▪
But the hopes fell flat, and private funding for vaccine work is drying up.
▪
He has been Navajo president for one year, and his efforts to decentralize tribal government so far have fallen flat.
▪
However, if your suggestion falls flat, he may not be ready to try another until the 21st century.
▪
I knew it would fall flat; but it wasn't the bad script which made the film unsuccessful.
▪
Yet there are certain composers who fall flat on their face unless the adrenalin really start to flow.
flatter yourself
▪
"I think you like me more than you'll admit." "Don't flatter yourself."
▪
He flattered himself that he would discover a twin soul in the famous Rifleman.
▪
I don't flatter myself that she was eager to take my name.
▪
Indeed Karelius, in opera cloak and one of Aranyos' dandyish suits, flattered himself he looked as distinguished as any.
▪
She had got bored by herself - and, if I flatter myself, there was a tinge of concern for me.
▪
Should we flatter ourselves that our descendants will find our concerns of the utmost importance?
▪
So I don't flatter myself that some one who gets my beliefs will automatically get true ones.
▪
The most that I can claim or flatter myself with, is to be of the middle rank....
house/flat share
▪
In the wall both houses shared there was a little chink.
▪
Many brokerage house shares were also lower.
▪
The facility also houses shared and dedicated web hosting servers.
house/flat with vacant possession
in/into a (flat) spin
▪
After decent dousing on Splash Mountain, need to go into spin cycle to dry off.
▪
At four hundred feet he hadn't enough altitude from which he could recover if he went into a spin .
▪
But Yoyo, just frozen in a spin , happens to look up and see him.
▪
EuroDisney, ahead of Thursday's figures, was in a spin .
▪
Incidentally, if an aircraft is very difficult to get into a spin , it also may be very difficult to recover.
▪
The tundras will drag you into a spin .
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
a group of students in a shared flat
▪
Lisa lives on the nineteenth floor of a black of flats in London.
▪
Stella and Keith moved into a cold, damp flat together.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
Headlines about local councils demolishing blocks of flats 10 years old or younger have become commonplace in the past four years.
▪
Prices start from £40,995 for a studio and £49,995 for one-bedroom flats.
▪
Sitting in the high-ceilinged library of his comfortable flat , he looks the part: bespectacled, a man of thoughtful pose.
▪
The Government is restoring several of them as holiday flats, a slow process but tastefully done.
III. adverb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ VERB
lie
▪
Because the knot lies flat it is often used in bandaging.
▪
Stephen lay flat , gazing out at the patterns of sunlight, his chin resting on the backs of his hands.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
Attaching a deep heading tape Lay the curtains out flat with lining sides uppermost.
▪
Deliberately he settled flat , inviting the pain to do its worst; quietly enjoying conquering it and himself.
▪
If you removed the future earnings, Baker told jurors, O. J. Simpson is flat broke.
▪
Stretched out flat , her feet pointing to the bow, she closed her eyes.
▪
They rest with their wings flat , but with the front wings covering their rear ones.
▪
You know how all the tires were flat out at the lake that night?