I. adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a big/smash/number 1 etc hit
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the Beatles’ greatest hits
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Which band had a hit with ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’?
a card number
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What's your card number?
a combination/variety/number of factors
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A combination of factors led to the closure of the factory.
a four/five/six etc figure number (= a number in the thousands/ten thousands/hundred thousands etc )
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Choose a four figure number that you can easily remember.
A growing number
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A growing number of people are taking part-time jobs.
a number of occasions
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The crowd interrupted her speech on a number of occasions.
a phone number
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Can I have your phone number?
a random number
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Pick a random number.
a record number/level/time etc
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Pollution in the lake has reached record levels.
a rise in the number of sth
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There has been a rise in the number of arrests for drug offences.
an equal number/amount
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Both candidates received an equal number of votes.
an infinite number/variety of sth
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There was an infinite variety of drinks to choose from.
An unknown number of
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An unknown number of people were killed.
atomic number
be equal in number/numbers
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In higher education, women are equal in numbers to men.
be ranked fourth/number one etc
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Agassi was at that time ranked sixth in the world.
box number
cardinal number
considerable amount/number etc of sth
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We’ve saved a considerable amount of money.
cushy number (= an easy job or life )
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a very cushy number
daytime telephone number (= the number of the telephone you use during the day )
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Can I take your daytime telephone number ?
double in size/number/value etc
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Within two years the company had doubled in size.
double the amount/number/size etc
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We’ll need double this amount for eight people.
double the size/number/amount etc (of sth)
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A promise was given to double the number of police on duty.
E number
extension number
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Do you know Mr Brown’s extension number ?
home address/number (= the address or telephone number of your house )
ICE number
insignificant number/amount
large number
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A large number of students have signed up for the course.
limited number/amount/time etc
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There are only a limited number of tickets available.
look out for yourself/number one (= think only of the advantages you can get for yourself )
maximum amount/number etc
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Work out the maximum amount you can afford to spend.
number 1/5/15 etc in the charts
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In 1962 'Love Me Do' reached only number 17 in the charts.
number cruncher
number crunching
number one
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The University of Maine has the number one hockey team in the country.
number one
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Until his marriage, his job was number one in his life.
number plate
Number Ten
number two
number/license/registration plate (= on a car )
▪
Did anyone see the car’s license plate?
ordinal number
personal identification number
prime number
production number
registration number
sb’s number one fan
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She told Dave that she was his number one fan.
serial number
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Each computer has a serial number on it.
sizeable amount/number
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a sizeable amount of money
small number
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Only a relatively small number of people were affected.
telephone number
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What’s your telephone number?
the exact amount/number/figure
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I don’t know the exact amount, but it was a lot.
the flight number
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Write the flight number on all your luggage labels.
the number one suspect (= the main suspect )
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I was the one who found her. And that makes me the number one suspect for her murder.
the top/main/number one priority
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Controlling spending is his top priority.
three-digit/four-digit etc number
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4305 is a four-digit number.
twice the size/number/rate/amount etc
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an area twice the size of Britain
unlimited number
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The system can support an unlimited number of users.
whole number
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
X number of people/things
beyond/without number
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It is to risk leaving out what religion is really about, rather like music without sound, or mathematics without numbers .
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The potential applications are almost without number .
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They forgot the message times without number .
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Zbigniew Shapira, not yet thirty, had talents without number .
black/elegant etc (little) number
bring the total/number/score etc to sth
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A $ 7 parking fee and an automatic $ 12. 15 tip brought the total to $ 93. 15.
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By the time it was eventually closed in 1988, new investors had brought the total to £116 million.
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Cruz also said Muni planned to hire at least 12 additional safety staffers, bringing the total to 72.
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It is estimated that this element would bring the total to over 20,000.
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Michael Forbes of New York, already had declared his opposition to Gingrich, bringing the total to four.
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More than 30 square miles have been annexed into the city, bringing the total to 193.
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The armed forces are said to have sent an extra 2,000 troops to the border area, bringing the total to 3,500.
do a number on sb/sth
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Danny did a real number on the car.
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It was a small piece of shrapnel, but it did a number on the left cheek of my hind end.
have sb's number
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You can tell Cara has his number . She knows exactly how to handle him when he's mad.
look out for number one
▪
We manoeuvre in the world constantly looking out for Number One.
number among sth/be numbered among sth
number one/two/three etc seed
public enemy number one
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Rats have been branded public enemy No. 1 in Bangladesh.
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She had done nothing wrong, yet between them Rourke and Rebecca were making her feel like public enemy number one.
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Taylor has turned into public enemy number one.
sb's number comes up
sb's number is up
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This could be the year a lot of politicians find their number is up.
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When my number is up, I want it to be quick.
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Competition prize winners Kathryn Winkler of Dundee, your lucky number is up.
shoot to number one/to the top of the charts etc
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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His legs grew so numb he couldn't move.
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It was so cold my fingers had gone numb .
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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He stuck his hands into his pockets, the fingers numb and red.
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Researchers speculate that this area becomes overloaded and shuts down eventually, leaving the woman numb and clinically depressed.
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She felt numb and tired and surprised herself by managing to sleep deeply and well.
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She felt numb , unable to respond.
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She ran the water out of the basin and held her wrists under the cold tap until they were numb .
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Their taste buds are numb by now.
II. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
pain
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If not, then how can I numb the pain ?
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Soak rist in cold water to numb the pain .
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The cold water would numb the pain .
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The way Strug fought off numbing pain in her left ankle after a fall on her second-to-last vault.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
X number of people/things
a fair size/amount/number/bit/distance etc
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But a fair number of them went on to greater things.
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It prefers a fair amount of nutritious detritus.
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Scientists must proceed cautiously, moving ahead only with the assent of a fair number of their colleagues.
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Thanks to the inherently leaky nature of the water industry, there is already a fair amount of information to go on.
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That involved a fair amount of travel.
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There was a fair amount going on.
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They'd have a fair bit of tidying up to do before they left.
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You may also be involved in a fair amount of travel.
a goodish distance/number etc
a goodly number/sum/amount etc
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It seems fair to assume that she will attract the attention of a goodly number of our countrymen.
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Small Dave had spent a goodly amount of time impressing upon him the importance of finding a camel.
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The Thatcher Years have been splendid ones for a goodly number of golf members throughout this Royal and Ancient land of ours.
back issue/copy/number
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A little later Bacon appeared, walked up to their table and asked Minton why he did not look after his back numbers.
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Anyway, I thought you ought to know you have your reader back , and I enclose £4 for 4 back issues.
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Lifelong readers who kept the back issues piled in their attics renewed their subscriptions like clockwork at the five-year rate.
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Mackey had seen handbooks on guerrilla tactics, back issues of a racist magazine Guy published.
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My parents collected all their copies of Wimpey News and we have back numbers going back to the 1940s.
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Six issues cost $ 39, and new and back issues are available.
beyond/without number
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It is to risk leaving out what religion is really about, rather like music without sound, or mathematics without numbers .
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The potential applications are almost without number .
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They forgot the message times without number .
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Zbigniew Shapira, not yet thirty, had talents without number .
black/elegant etc (little) number
contact number/address/details
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Books can be entered and modified as can contact details.
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Frequently there is no contact number, so even if we like the music, we can't do much about it.
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Gave the name of his solicitors in London as his contact address.
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The video box illustration carries various official body contact addresses on the back for further information on the river.
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These advertisements generally use a Box number at the publication as the contact address and may be placed by the client.
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These provide the contact details and an indication of charges for more than 20 online brokers.
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This time we have remembered to put our contact numbers below.
do a number on sb/sth
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Danny did a real number on the car.
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It was a small piece of shrapnel, but it did a number on the left cheek of my hind end.
have sb's number
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You can tell Cara has his number . She knows exactly how to handle him when he's mad.
look out for number one
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We manoeuvre in the world constantly looking out for Number One.
magic number/word
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The Maharishi's followers say that 7000 is a magic number.
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Al knew at once that he had heard A very secret magic word.
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Bacon could argue that Antichrist would invoke stellar influences and magic words having the power to produce physical effects.
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Charles would capture one of the boys and only release him if he said the magic word.
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For Geteles and others, potential was the magic word, the answer to all the talk about standards.
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If that magic number is reached, the deal becomes an international treaty.
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Once a patient has his magic number, does it have any effect?
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The magic words had been uttered.
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This is done by listening to a tape and writing on your application form a magic number.
number one/two/three etc seed
odd number
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An odd number of classes provides a neutral mid-point.
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An individual scorer might be useful where an odd number of people are concerned.
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Clearly the northern fleet is being reinforced from the southern; but why the odd numbers?
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Erect verticals upon the odd numbers, 1, 3, 5, 7, etc.
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He said that we have to prove that no odd number can be perfect.
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I have no idea why it is always an odd number.
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Three arrangements with eight fences; five with ten fences ... odd numbers ... Was there a pattern?
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You need to have an odd number of colours, including the background.
premium rate number/line/service
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Because of the high cost of providing and gathering this information, Climbline would not exist were it not a premium rate service.
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Choice has not been considered in premium rate services.
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That is certainly true in the context of telecommunications and, more specifically, in premium rate services.
public enemy number one
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Rats have been branded public enemy No. 1 in Bangladesh.
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She had done nothing wrong, yet between them Rourke and Rebecca were making her feel like public enemy number one.
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Taylor has turned into public enemy number one.
public enemy number one
▪
She had done nothing wrong, yet between them Rourke and Rebecca were making her feel like public enemy number one.
▪
Taylor has turned into public enemy number one.
sb's number comes up
sb's number is up
▪
This could be the year a lot of politicians find their number is up.
▪
When my number is up, I want it to be quick.
▪
Competition prize winners Kathryn Winkler of Dundee, your lucky number is up.
sb's opposite number
total number/amount/cost etc
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Additional disk space is a dollar or two per megabyte per month, depending on total amount.
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Microcell bid only in southern Ontario for a total cost of $ 19.2-million.
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Multiply the number of widths by the number of pattern repeats per drop to give the total number of pattern repeats required.
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The total amount of contributions and tax paid by each employee is entered on the P35.
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The total cost has been several million pounds more than budgeted.
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The total number of jobless rose to 615, 830 from 609, 670.
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The total number of registered voters was 1,732,000 aged 16 and over.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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The cold wind numbed my face and hands.
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The prisoners were numbed by their years in jail.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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All these firms seem to be eight miles high, with the same numbing view of the lake and the mills.
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It induces euphoria, numbs concentration and generally slows down reactions, increasing the likelihood of a bumpy return to earth.
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So many films with so little time torture the eyeballs and numb the brain.
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The array is bewildering and the effect is numbing.
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The cold water would numb the pain.
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There was continuous driving rain, and a cold that numbed me.