I. adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
(a) quarter past (sth) British English ( also (a) quarter after (sth) American English ) (= 15 minutes after the hour )
▪
I’ll meet you at a quarter past ten.
be past your peak
▪
By the next Olympics, she will be past her peak.
bluff your way out of/through/past etc sb/sth (= go somewhere or succeed in doing something by deceiving someone )
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I hope we’ll be able to bluff our way past the guard.
colourful history/past/career/life
▪
Charlie Chaplin had a long and colorful career.
elbow your way through/past/into etc sth (= move through a group of people by pushing past them )
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He elbowed his way to the bar and ordered a beer.
in the dim and distant past humorous (= a long time ago )
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Back in the dim and distant past when I was at school, computers didn’t exist.
leave the past behind
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It’s time to leave the past behind .
living in the past (= imagining that things from the past are still happening )
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You must stop living in the past .
on present/current/past etc form
▪
On current form he’s one of the top three players in the country.
past catches up with
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At the end of the movie his murky past catches up with him.
past master
▪
She’s a past master at exploiting other people.
past midnight (= after midnight )
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By the time he arrived, it was well past midnight .
past participle
past perfect
past tense
past/previous experience
▪
His only previous experience of broadcasting consisted of a job hosting a local radio station.
past...prime
▪
He is now past his prime .
past...sell-by date
▪
This type of games console is starting to look well past its sell-by date .
past...sell-by date
▪
a yoghurt two days past its sell-by date
sb’s past errors formal
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If we fail to learn from our past errors, we are doomed to repeat them.
the distant past/future (= a long time in the past/future )
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It is a fictional story set in the distant past.
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In the distant future, there may be a cure for the disease.
the past month
▪
They had come to know and like each other in the past month.
the past week
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Five soldiers were killed in the past week alone.
the past year
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Over the past year everyone has worked extremely hard.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
century
▪
In past centuries these led to considerable artistry in the devising of labyrinths and mazes.
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Patterson's evidence plainly indicates that there has been a gradual swing away from front values in the past century or so.
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Knightly warfare, if it no longer enjoyed the supremacy of past centuries , was far from dead.
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Legacies Somerville has been enormously enriched over the past century by Somervillians remembering the College in their wills.
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But over the past century we have made it into a rubbish dump.
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In the past century the institutions and the external stimuli affecting the relation between finance and industry have been chopped and changed.
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The same new acoustic effect has been discovered repeatedly throughout the past century !
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This section begins by looking at the changing fate of old people during the past century as they have retired.
couple
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This criminal neglect has been particularly indefensible over the past couple of decades.
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I have seen this problem many times in the past couple of years when the summers have been very hot.
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In the past couple of decades, Britain has managed to slither from one high technology debacle to another.
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He'd had them on and off for the past couple of weeks.
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I can't believe how far I have come in the past couple of years.
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Certainly the petrochemicals industry as a whole has done very well in the past couple of years, and we with it.
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Encouragingly the past couple of months have seen an upturn in measured revenues.
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In the past couple of years, however, it has come bouncing back.
decade
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Unemployment has risen in virtually every western country in the past decade .
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On the other hand, the pace of counterurbanization has slowed considerably in the past decade .
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Psychoanalytic theory has probably been the single most important theoretical influence on the discipline of Art History over the past decade .
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Over the past decade , practitioners in neighbourhood or community-based teams have been developing closer relationships with the people they serve.
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Mature enough, in any case, to be recreating works from past decades for those who might have missed them.
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Hon. Members have referred to the increasing centralisation of government that has taken place, especially in the past decade .
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In the past decade , the number of jobs in Scotch Whisky companies has fallen by 40% from 26,000 to 15.
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Employee trusts Employee trusts have increased in popularity over the past decade or so as a method of providing incentives for employees.
experience
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What research has shown is that these tendencies to behave in certain ways are deeply embedded in past experiences .
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It's also to do with using your own past experiences to show empathy and understanding when others need it.
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We often ignore intuition, when it's possible that intuitive responses are our past experiences lodged in our unconscious minds.
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But Tess, in answer to your question, whatever you do, don't tell your future husband anything about your past experience .
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First, we sense the information and then we digest it through past experiences , attitudes, values and beliefs.
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The counsellor must also recognize that in returning to past experiences , there will be regrets and disappointments as well as joys and successes.
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They do not deny - indeed they insist - that what an animal does is influenced by past experiences as well as present ones.
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We delve deeply into the psyche for memories of past experience and sensation to judge any work of art.
history
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To this day a few of the fields around the village tell of its past history .
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Geschichte as Kähler used it refers to past history as such.
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Or strategies might be conditional upon the past history of the game.
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Eight patients had a past history of recurrent peptic ulcers or gastritis.
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Each creature has its own karma, its own personal mind patterns, derived from its own past history of previous lives.
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Through a major media campaign it is seeking to obtain funds by raising public awareness of the museum's past history .
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But all that was past history .
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Just for the sake of the past history .
life
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But there was no sign of Mr Hyde himself, although the police and the newspapers discovered a lot about his past life .
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I have a feeling that there is now more of my past life than my future.
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And I am aware of my past life .
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What do elderly people remember from their past lives ?
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In reminiscence, you build up from past life to the present.
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He's casting around trying to find a way of presenting himself that's different from his past life .
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Surely Russell Bryant must have some sign on him of his past life , then?
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Health matters will usually come first, and then talk either of family news or of their past lives .
month
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The poll also shows the Tories have cut Labour's lead from nine to six points over the past month .
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The score belies the ferocious chessboard duel that we have witnessed over the past month and a half.
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The committee express their thanks for the work he has done in a voluntary capacity over the past months .
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The Sheldon family have spent the past month wondering why.
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The girls walked in the Rose Gardens and caught up on the past months , discussed the future.
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The past month has seen more violence and death than any of the student groups had anticipated.
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I fell into deceit quite easily, having got used to it over the past months .
week
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For when he checked through the inventory of pain that his body had become over the past weeks David found nothing.
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From there I went to the county records office in Chichester and that's where I've spent the past week .
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Its gon na be mighty difficult to find out info from past weeks .
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In the past week or so householders throughout the country have been opening their April water bills and gaping.
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When Airdrie went to Easter Road this past week , there were seven bookings and two Hibs players were ordered off.
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The organisation he had so painstakingly built up had successfully weathered several crises over the past week .
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To judge by the events of the past week , Michael Heseltine has now enrolled in the Nixon school.
year
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Sadly, though, we have in the past year been through the painful process of shedding a large number of jobs.
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Read in studio A group which has been juggling with fire for the past year is staging its first play.
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The updated catalogue includes new and revised modules developed over the past year .
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Research over the past years has begun to answer lots of questions, but much still remains to be sorted out.
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I haven't been an easy man to live with for the past year .
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In the past year the first phase of the analysis of bus passenger casualties highlighted in the 1991 Plan has been undertaken.
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But the past year waiting for the auction has been very difficult.
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But only 11-12 percent had prepared a formal marketing strategy or employed a marketing consultant in the past year .
years
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Over past years , locals had experienced increasing crime rates and a growing fear of crime.
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Research over the past years has begun to answer lots of questions, but much still remains to be sorted out.
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The House has not had a good record in the past years .
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I notice that the steepest price rises in past years have been in pubs tied to the national brewers.
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In past years events of the meeting have been covered by the media.
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Tammuz again considered that some wit in past years had programmed the machine with something other than Aristotelian logic.
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The Revenue has also indicated that past years will not be re-examined solely as a result of the decision.
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The employers then presented a petition of right seeking repayment of the sums paid in the past years .
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
I wouldn't put it past sb (to do sth)
a blast from the past
▪
The biggest blast from the past was '60s model, Peggy Moffat, whose famous haircut is back in style.
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And, a blast from the past.
be a past master (at sth)
▪
Johnny Morris is a past master at both.
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That sort of thing wasn't her style at all, but Susan was a past master at it.
be a thing of the past
▪
Life-long employment with a single company is a thing of the past.
▪
Otherwise, Tucsonans should merely leave the bees alone, and the scared news stories will probably be things of the past.
be beyond/past description
be beyond/past retrieval
bludgeon your way through/to/past etc sb/sth
break with tradition/the past
▪
After a point, you break with the past.
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Although people complained about the volume, the rhythmic concept represented his biggest break with the past.
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Can the break with the past be more vividly described?
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However, the changes were not a complete break with the past.
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She has broken with the past.
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Thinking they were breaking with the past, the early Christians re-enacted it.
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Would there be a total break with the past?
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Yet the plan represents an important break with the past.
break with tradition/the past
▪
After a point, you break with the past.
▪
Although people complained about the volume, the rhythmic concept represented his biggest break with the past.
▪
Can the break with the past be more vividly described?
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However, the changes were not a complete break with the past.
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She has broken with the past.
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Thinking they were breaking with the past, the early Christians re-enacted it.
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Would there be a total break with the past?
▪
Yet the plan represents an important break with the past.
fight your way (through/past etc sb/sth)
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After fighting his way through all this, he would have to face an angry and almost certainly stark-naked Quigley.
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Bar girls were screaming, and trying to fight their way past us.
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Being fit and healthy is especially important if you have to fight your way out of trouble or run for home.
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Dana fights his way through the protocol surrounding the medicine chest, has a recipe drawn up, and delivers his balm.
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I think also that three other Hearthwares shall come, in case we need to fight our way out of some tight spot.
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Meanwhile, the master had sprung from his position backstage and was fighting his way toward me.
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We will swim through seas of blood, fight our way through lakes of fire, if we are ordered.
half past one/two/three etc
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At half past one the men got up and checked their equipment, gathering several sticks as well.
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At half past three he wanted to die, or to kill somebody.
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At half past two this morning my wife died.
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It was half past three in the morning.
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She arrived at the Herald building at half past three, and walked past the uniformed commissionaire to the lift.
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The return journey was supposed to start at half past three but there would always be a few people missing.
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They'd all been given leaflets about it at half past three.
past/beyond redemption
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His lawyer believes Manson is beyond redemption .
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Charlotte got back into London rather late that night, and rather tired, but hooked beyond redemption upon Aurae Phiala.
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Systems may be evil but people are never beyond redemption .
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The Pistols were already banned from most established London venues; punk rock's reputation for violence was now beyond redemption .
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The whole business was regrettable but not beyond redemption .
rake over the past/old coals
talk/buy etc your way into/past etc sth/sb
▪
Each receives some kind of government stipend, and Harry talks his way into a computer job while Kate does laundry.
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Forbes' rivals have accused him of buying his way into the race.
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Now nationalised and backed by government money, the firm may buy its way into video technology and markets.
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The adventurers could fight, but it would be safer to try and talk their way past.
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The family - without plane tickets and passports - had to talk their way past airport officials on their homeward journey.
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They bought their way into the landed aristocracy.
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You should be able to buy your way into any Mystery you choose with that.
that's (past/ancient) history
▪
But that's history now the children are back in the classroom.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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For the past two weeks, I've been doing my boss's job while she's away on business.
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Groups have put a lot into past projects, and have always seen an excellent result.
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He's learned a lot from his past experience.
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Judging by her past performance, I'd say Rowena will do very well.
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The past few months have been very difficult for Mary.
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the past tense
▪
the enormous changes of the past 30 years
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The problems we face now are a result of past decisions.
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The time is past for us to continue ignoring our differences.
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We knew from past experience that the job would take at least two weeks.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
Productivity improvements over the past five years, admittedly from a very low base, have been highly impressive.
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Trafford education authority has received about £13 million in the past two years to help it reorganise and improve its schools.
II. preposition
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
I wouldn't put it past sb (to do sth)
a blast from the past
▪
The biggest blast from the past was '60s model, Peggy Moffat, whose famous haircut is back in style.
▪
And, a blast from the past.
be a past master (at sth)
▪
Johnny Morris is a past master at both.
▪
That sort of thing wasn't her style at all, but Susan was a past master at it.
be a thing of the past
▪
Life-long employment with a single company is a thing of the past.
▪
Otherwise, Tucsonans should merely leave the bees alone, and the scared news stories will probably be things of the past.
be beyond/past description
be beyond/past retrieval
bludgeon your way through/to/past etc sb/sth
break with tradition/the past
▪
After a point, you break with the past.
▪
Although people complained about the volume, the rhythmic concept represented his biggest break with the past.
▪
Can the break with the past be more vividly described?
▪
However, the changes were not a complete break with the past.
▪
She has broken with the past.
▪
Thinking they were breaking with the past, the early Christians re-enacted it.
▪
Would there be a total break with the past?
▪
Yet the plan represents an important break with the past.
break with tradition/the past
▪
After a point, you break with the past.
▪
Although people complained about the volume, the rhythmic concept represented his biggest break with the past.
▪
Can the break with the past be more vividly described?
▪
However, the changes were not a complete break with the past.
▪
She has broken with the past.
▪
Thinking they were breaking with the past, the early Christians re-enacted it.
▪
Would there be a total break with the past?
▪
Yet the plan represents an important break with the past.
fight your way (through/past etc sb/sth)
▪
After fighting his way through all this, he would have to face an angry and almost certainly stark-naked Quigley.
▪
Bar girls were screaming, and trying to fight their way past us.
▪
Being fit and healthy is especially important if you have to fight your way out of trouble or run for home.
▪
Dana fights his way through the protocol surrounding the medicine chest, has a recipe drawn up, and delivers his balm.
▪
I think also that three other Hearthwares shall come, in case we need to fight our way out of some tight spot.
▪
Meanwhile, the master had sprung from his position backstage and was fighting his way toward me.
▪
We will swim through seas of blood, fight our way through lakes of fire, if we are ordered.
half past one/two/three etc
▪
At half past one the men got up and checked their equipment, gathering several sticks as well.
▪
At half past three he wanted to die, or to kill somebody.
▪
At half past two this morning my wife died.
▪
It was half past three in the morning.
▪
She arrived at the Herald building at half past three, and walked past the uniformed commissionaire to the lift.
▪
The return journey was supposed to start at half past three but there would always be a few people missing.
▪
They'd all been given leaflets about it at half past three.
have a checkered history/career/past etc
in the dim and distant past
▪
I am sure in the dim and distant past it had been filched from the wall.
past/beyond redemption
▪
His lawyer believes Manson is beyond redemption .
▪
Charlotte got back into London rather late that night, and rather tired, but hooked beyond redemption upon Aurae Phiala.
▪
Systems may be evil but people are never beyond redemption .
▪
The Pistols were already banned from most established London venues; punk rock's reputation for violence was now beyond redemption .
▪
The whole business was regrettable but not beyond redemption .
rake over the past/old coals
talk/buy etc your way into/past etc sth/sb
▪
Each receives some kind of government stipend, and Harry talks his way into a computer job while Kate does laundry.
▪
Forbes' rivals have accused him of buying his way into the race.
▪
Now nationalised and backed by government money, the firm may buy its way into video technology and markets.
▪
The adventurers could fight, but it would be safer to try and talk their way past.
▪
The family - without plane tickets and passports - had to talk their way past airport officials on their homeward journey.
▪
They bought their way into the landed aristocracy.
▪
You should be able to buy your way into any Mystery you choose with that.
that's (past/ancient) history
▪
But that's history now the children are back in the classroom.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
Come on Annie, it's past your bedtime.
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It's half past two.
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It's quarter past four.
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It's ten past nine.
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My house is four blocks past the main intersection.
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You drive past the stadium on your way to work, don't you?
III. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
distant
▪
What of that other world, the world of the distant past that now lies beneath our feet?
▪
We move from the distant past , to the past, to the present, to an even earlier past.
▪
Nurses are no longer expected to sublimate their feelings behind starchy officiousness as has been the case in the not so distant past .
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How often did El Ninos occur in the distant past ?
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Time and again a permissive present is contrasted with the not too distant past .
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The recent and the more or less distant past thus combine in the amalgam of the present.
▪
When he did speak, it was mostly of the very distant past , remembering his brothers as boys.
▪
Marks and Kersey had had contact in the distant past .
recent
▪
Her normally lucid style had slipped and she had forgotten huge chunks of the recent past .
▪
These remarks, which apply even to the recent past , are worth remembering at the outset.
▪
Much of the interest in the recent past in job enrichment programmes has sprung from this and other work by Herzberg.
▪
That does not mean formal, just not as casual as in the recent past .
▪
They had seen the recent administrative past and it had worked.
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Let us begin with a balance-sheet of these opportunities, from both the distant and the more recent past .
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Salmonella poisoning has received considerable publicity in the recent past .
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Both Dennis and Gustave had at various times in the recent past been passionately enamored with me, or so I suspected.
■ VERB
happen
▪
Erroneous police conclusions are often caused by considerable obstacles to the discovery of what happened in the past .
▪
Whatever happened in the past is the past.
▪
You feel guilty in the here and now about things that happened in the past which you can not correct.
▪
No doubt a Conservative Member will cite the 1930s, just as has happened in the past .
▪
All our interpretations about what happened in the past must ultimately rest upon this evidence surviving from the past.
▪
Before she reached it, she wanted everything that had happened in the past finally to be put behind her.
▪
It is an unstructured corpus of independent observations which rarely go beyond what seems to have happened in the past .
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
She'd like to forget her past and start over.
▪
There were certain facts about his past that could hurt his chances of being elected.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
But not if policy makers insist on fighting the battles of the past .
▪
Candidates can not revise their own historic record with the same impunity before a population that has power to retrieve the past .
▪
In the past , women with these symptoms rarely sought treatment, and women with severe cases were hospitalized.
▪
That has always stood me in good stead in the past .
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This approach is no more valid today than it has been in the past .
▪
We have encoded and used versions of them from the past we study.