I. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a rough patch (= a difficult time that does not last long )
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He was good at encouraging his team when it hit a rough patch.
a vegetable garden/patch/plot
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Anna was digging in the vegetable garden.
bald patch (= part of someone’s head where there is no hair )
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He combed his hair and tried to hide his bald patch .
eye patch
hit a snag/problems/a bad patch etc
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My father hit a bad patch, he had to sell the house.
nicotine patch
patch up a quarrel British English (= end it )
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The brothers eventually patched up their quarrel.
patches of fog (= fog that forms in some places but not in others )
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Patches of fog are expected later today.
soul patch
sticky patch British English
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The business hit a sticky patch and lost £4.8 million.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
bad
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Their worst patch was in 1989 and 1990, before recession really bit.
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Talk about hitting a bad patch .
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Even when they knew he was going through a bad patch they would continue to deliver dangerous back-passes to him.
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Having hit a bad patch , financially, I decided I must try for some paid work with my knitting machine.
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Every team goes through a bad patch .
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They forget that we have gone through bad patches before.
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She had gone through rather a bad patch since she had come to live in the banqueting hall.
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It is currently going through a bad patch of such uncertainty.
bald
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My hair falls out at the slightest touch, sometimes leaving little bald patches .
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But this can just mean patchy regrowth, with bald patches , not the whole leg of hair disappearing.
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Same-shaped bald patch , same fringe of white hair.
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If you crick your neck you might spot the odd bald patch , too!
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I noticed a small bald patch on the crown of his head.
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It was thin and ragged, and folded forward to hide a growing bald patch .
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More so than the bald patch at the back of his head.
black
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Generally darker than Collared Dove, with chestnut upperparts, and black and white patch on either side of neck.
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Overhead, a black patch of pine needles caught in the troughs of the milky green roof.
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A white background to this black patch is set in otherwise clear finnage.
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Those black patches on the surface, they'd be dead leaves.
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The black patch in the top left corner of the image area is a small reservoir.
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The scattering of windows had become black patches behind iron bars.
bright
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She had a bright red patch on each cheek.
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The bark had been stripped away leaving a bright damp patch .
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A single pale, bright patch , from which two black skeletons leered down at him.
clear
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He made the most of the clear patches of brilliant blue sky fleetingly appearing through the white storm clouds.
damp
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His parents had detected a smell in the room over the past few weeks and had noticed a damp patch .
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The bark had been stripped away leaving a bright damp patch .
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You can look for damp patches though, particularly on outside walls.
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Look at the gutters and downpipes for damp patches , and look out for water marks and white salts.
dark
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He was thin, and there appeared to be dark patches growing in through the grey of his beard.
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Grey plover: ash grey with feathers white-tipped, the diagnostic dark patch of feathers beneath its wings.
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Duck has dark patch on cheek, bill all grey.
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At first it looked like a dark patch of space.
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It is physiologically unsettling to gaze out from a dark patch into a brighter one.
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In the middle of the screen was the same dark patch .
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As she dropped her hand, a dark red patch began to emerge against the tan of his skin.
difficult
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Ruefully, she recalled her pleasure at the way the book, after a difficult patch , had begun to develop.
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St Matthew's School has gone through a difficult patch in the last few years.
green
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She seemed to take a fancy to a green patch further into the field and began to amble slowly towards it.
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The basic colouration is greyish-blue to green , with a pearly iridescence and blue to green iridescent patches on the scales.
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New, well-constructed houses are springing up all over West Belfast on every available piece of waste ground or green patch .
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However, if it is only green in small patches , these should be peeled or cut away during preparation.
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There are remains of old buildings on a green patch on the shore below.
large
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Yellow on crown: Three-toed male. Large white patch on wing.
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The first is cocoa brown with large irregular white patches .
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Within days of the first autumn frosts a large brown patch of vines can be seen growing out from this area.
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Picture your garden bed of cucumbers, a very large patch of them, a bumper crop.
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There were large patches of material missing from the tape's coating.
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The Blue Fog features large patches of rust, an oil leak, a loose handle and a temperamental pull cord.
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I opened a bedroom door, and could smell damp; there was a large patch on the wall.
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The large patches of green mold on its dark gray walls look like islands on a dry, concrete sea.
little
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We sat down on the little grass patch where the strolling players set up their tent.
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Extracted from a tough little patch of turf with no small effort.
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Leave me and the children in our little patch of civilization.
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As the snow accumulates from that little boreal patch , growing inexorably year after year, gargantuan ice sheets begin to form.
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The hills rolled and folded into each other, hiding little patches of dead ground.
pale
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Duck and juvenile have a pale patch on either side of eye on otherwise dark face.
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Gradually the pale patches of fresh plaster spread across the blackened walls.
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A single pale , bright patch , from which two black skeletons leered down at him.
purple
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Talk of his absence coinciding with our recent purple patch can't have helped.
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Ian and a friend bagged 90 cod in just two hours in one purple patch .
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Were they a coincidence or are you going through a purple patch at the moment?
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It is neither a purple patch nor is it coincidence.
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There are very few purple patches whereas the outdoor game - tactically - can be slow.
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A 15-minute purple patch in which they scored 19 points a 22-14 win Durham City.
red
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They all have rough red patches like coins on their cheeks, small, tough-skinned hands, and feet encrusted with mud.
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I've now noticed red patches starting to appear, a sign of deteriorating water quality, I know.
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She had a bright red patch on each cheek.
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Male usually with red patch on head.
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As she dropped her hand, a dark red patch began to emerge against the tan of his skin.
rough
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The film has its rough patches: particularly the implausible speed with which Jeanne catches on to something being amiss with Mika.
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She had been a major influence in my life, and helped me through the rough patches .
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The Royal Family is certainly going through a rough patch .
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They all have rough red patches like coins on their cheeks, small, tough-skinned hands, and feet encrusted with mud.
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It fills in rough patches on the cuticle and give a light-reflecting finish.
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When the company I work for went through a rough patch , there were no pay rises for two years.
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My boyfriend and I were going through a very rough patch at the time.
small
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There, dried in, the small patch of blood.
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She touches the small colorful patches with her index finger, and laughs.
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A smaller patch of lesser quality vines extends southwards on to the north-east-facing slopes of Mont Aimé.
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Accordingly, what small patches of old growth we have now remaining are all that we will ever have.
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Often but not always there is a small white face patch behind the bill.
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It sees a small round patch but also a surrounding ring.
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The metropolis also houses a host of smaller patches of urban wasteland from a few hundred square metres to several hectares.
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They had a small patch of land on which to grow food.
sticky
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Evode has gone through a sticky patch .
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During a sticky patch in her relationship with Paul she bedded a 19-year-old holidaymaker in Ibiza.
tiny
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Did you spot that tiny patch of freckles on her left cheek?
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Many peasants owned their tiny patches of soil.
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It sees a tiny patch of the visual field measuring a few degrees of visual angle across.
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You see this tiny patch where the material is paler.
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It was an end-of-terrace with rounded bays overlooking the road and a tiny patch of grass at the front.
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Binoculars will show quite a number of globulars, though in most cases only as tiny , blurred patches .
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A typical example is Chteau de Valandraud, made from grapes grown on a tiny patch of vineyard in St-Emilion.
white
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Then his startled gaze met the glowing eyes above the white patch of the handkerchief the man was holding at his mouth.
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The first is cocoa brown with large irregular white patches .
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There are other people who have sun-tans that leave white patches on their arms.
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Some of the alders held overwintering white patches of woolly aphids on their gray stems.
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Generally darker than Collared Dove, with chestnut upperparts, and black and white patch on either side of neck.
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It was large and black with a round white patch on its chest.
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On each plain scarlet wing shell is a rectangular white cloth patch edged on each side with narrow white lace.
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Adult tawny brown, sometimes with pale head; immature distinguished by white base of tail and white patch on spread wing.
■ NOUN
eye
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There was no limp, no eye patch , no tricks.
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He waited, hoping she would go back to the kitchen so he could work on the eye patch .
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I don't think the other children bully her too much or make fun of her because of her eye patch .
home
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Bénéteau went to town in their usual impressive way; it is, after all, their home patch .
■ VERB
hit
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Having hit a bad patch , financially, I decided I must try for some paid work with my knitting machine.
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Talk about hitting a bad patch .
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You could then skip the files on the troublesome disk until you hit a good patch .
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And that was when she hit a wet patch on the tarmac and felt the car go out of control.
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The front wheels began to slip, and then the rear wheels hit the ice patch and they too began to spin.
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Provided I could hit the patches of sand quickly enough and keep the momentum, the wheel would skate across.
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The market for recycled material has recently hit a bad patch with falling prices.
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Sometimes I am a real power pack of efficiency; then I hit a bad patch .
wear
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He lost an eye at the Battle of the Jaws, and wears an iron patch to cover the wound.
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But not one of them wore the patch of the Tropic Lightning Division.
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Patients who wore them were almost twice as likely to break the habit as those who wore a dummy patch .
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We had a beatnik poet who wore salami patches on his tweed sport coat.
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More than 1,600 smokers were asked to wear an arm patch for 3 months.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
purple patch
▪
A 15-minute purple patch in which they scored 19 points a 22-14 win Durham City.
▪
Ian and a friend bagged 90 cod in just two hours in one purple patch.
▪
It is neither a purple patch nor is it coincidence.
▪
Talk of his absence coinciding with our recent purple patch can't have helped.
▪
There are very few purple patches whereas the outdoor game - tactically - can be slow.
▪
Were they a coincidence or are you going through a purple patch at the moment?
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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Patches of grease covered the kitchen walls.
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a nicotine patch
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a pumpkin patch
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a white kitten with black patches
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Both knees of his jeans had patches on them.
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Detective McCready had taken over; he didn't want us on his patch .
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I noticed a patch of dirt in the middle of the rug.
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Morris is going through one of the roughest patches of his presidency.
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The car hit an icy patch on the road and went out of control.
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There's a damp patch under the window.
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There were some darker patches on the carpet.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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A smaller patch of lesser quality vines extends southwards on to the north-east-facing slopes of Mont Aimé.
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He tied his horse to a tree outside this bushy patch and left him grazing.
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He told me to be more aggressive in representing my patch .
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She touches the small colorful patches with her index finger, and laughs.
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The rising sun slowly turns the drab greys and dull browns of the mountains to patches of pale gold and dusty pinks.
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There are other people who have sun-tans that leave white patches on their arms.
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There are small patches with the emblems of sports cars sewn at odd, playful angles on the front.
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There was an ugly, scorched patch right in the middle of the skirt.
II. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
difference
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But the pair, openly hostile by the end of last year, will patch up their mutual differences .
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But though they patched up their difference , they did not change; they were both strong-minded women.
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Phil Coleman ... patched up his differences with Steve Dowman at Wivenhoe.
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And the couple are now taking an early-break break from their civic duties to patch up their differences .
■ VERB
try
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Colin and Dawn fell in love when Dawn tried to help them patch things up.
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The bullpen is a hodgepodge the Phillies are trying to patch with castoffs from other teams.
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Hospital staff sent him home to try to patch things up with his hot-tempered wife.
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How long do we try to patch up a failing plan?
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I've been trying to patch it up.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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And the couple are now taking an early-break break from their civic duties to patch up their differences.
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He patched through it somehow, though.
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He had been wounded four times-and patched up, and sent back to war.
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Rip one seam and the coat will patch itself on the spot.
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Their planking was patched with corrugated iron, their roofs shingled with flattened tin cans.
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They built timber groynes and constructed chalk banks and patched up breaches as they occurred.
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Trash collection has improved, he said, leaf pickup has resumed and more than 35, 000 potholes have been patched.