noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
mere
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A classic power feature, often touted by its supporters, that will be used by a mere handful of people.
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They were a mere handful of men, hardly worth worrying about.
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A mere handful set up their own business.
small
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Proper buffet cars are economic on only a small handful of their routes, notably Waterloo-Bournemouth.
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Only a small handful of large investors spoke at the meeting, which was dominated by Conrail employees.
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The paracelsian mercurials represented one of the small handful of important therapeutic advances made before the present century.
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Cook noodles, a small handful at a time, in oil.
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She thought ruefully of the cigarette butt, and of Johnny's small handful of apple tree leaves.
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Prior to 1986 only a small handful of networks existed within the research and education community.
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And behold, he shrivelled and withered under their eyes, and became a small handful of grey dust and glass powder.
■ VERB
grab
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She bit the inside of his mouth, and grabbed a handful of his hair and jerked at it.
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I saw myself reaching into that mass and grabbing a big handful and squeezing.
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Sharpe grabbed a handful of his mare's mane to haul himself back upright.
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He had grabbed a handful of cartridges from his pocket, which contained both blank and live cartridges.
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Gordy put his hand in the water and grabbed a handful of it.
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Traffic screeched to a stop and dozens of people dashed to grab handfuls of notes swirling in the wind.
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Her free hand reached down through her lap to grab a sincere handful of my crotch.
pick
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Finally he picked up a handful of stones and every time he looked round and found her following, he threw one.
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Yoyo moaned as she picked up a handful of pieces.
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I also pick up small roadkills for Jack, or stop to pick a handful of wild strawberries for myself.
pull
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Susan pulled out handfuls of ectoplasm and threw them aside.
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The orangutan man reached into his pants and pulled out a handful of brochures.
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Dempster pulled out a handful of change and slammed it down.
throw
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She threw handfuls of Loulou's bath-salts into the hot water, then emptied the jar.
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When my father threw in the first handful of dirt, I heard the pebbles dance on the coffin lid.
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A little while later, still holding Maura in his arms, Michael threw his handful of dirt on to the coffin.
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There was a tapping noise at the shutters, as if some one had thrown a handful of pebbles against them.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
to name but a few/a handful/three etc
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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They played a handful of tunes from their new album.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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As for Jimmy, he chooses from a handful of set comments, so he hasn't a great deal to say.
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Gradually, the number of individual objectors prepared to enter the fray began to expand outside the initial handful .
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Looking down where the water of the canal licked the rocks, I saw a handful of date pits.
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Prior to 1986 only a small handful of networks existed within the research and education community.
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She had three more falls before she and a handful of other players started stick and balling.
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Sports Illustrated for Kids asked a handful of athletes whether they had invented anything when they were kids.
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The new book is by a man who's already written a handful of best-sellers, most of them about moles.
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The trial is the first of a handful of high-profile cases expected within the next few months.