I. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a bomb scare (= when people think there might be a bomb somewhere )
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The building was evacuated after a bomb scare.
a food scare (= when people are afraid to eat a particular food )
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The meat industry has been badly affected by recent food scares.
bomb scare
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a bomb scare in Central London
scare story
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Despite the scare stories in the media, no jobs will be lost at the factory.
scare tactics (= in which you deliberately try to frighten people )
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He accused the opposition of scare tactics.
scare tactics
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Employers used scare tactics to force a return to work.
scared of heights
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Rachel had always been scared of heights .
used scare tactics
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Employers used scare tactics to force a return to work.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
child
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His Halloween programme Ghostwatch so scared my children that I have had to sleep on a camp bed in their room.
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Threats and punishments very often succeed in scaring an aggressive child into changing his ways.
daylights
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I could not possibly tell him the truth, as that would scare the daylights out of him.
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He is capable of rages near to those on-screen moments when he can scare the living daylights out of a cinema audience.
death
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If he caught him up here again he'd see him off, scare him to death .
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But the first time I did it, I was scared half to death .
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The first time this had happened to her, she had been scared to death .
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They acted as if they knew what would happen if they lost, and they were scared to death of it.
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Then I looked up lymphoma in a medical book and almost scared myself to death !
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His bungalow had scared her to death .
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Then she'd jump out and scare them to death !
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You had us scared half to death .
hell
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Don't even glance at me, my proud beauties: you'd scare the hell out of me.
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Just to make the move scared the hell out of me.
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You know it too, and you're scared as hell .
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Today, he scares the hell out of a lot of Republicans.
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Statistics like that scare the hell out of me, and they must scare a lot of CEOs too.
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It scared the hell out of me.
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Tornadoes are not fascinating to me; they scare the hell out of me.
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There is no stopping planned randomness, and that scares the hell out of us.
kid
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Traffic is another worry-busier roads and faster cars make parents scared to let their kids walk to school alone.
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Is television scaring our kids , engendering violent behavior, skewing their morals and generally eroding the aesthetic standards of Western civilization?
life
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It scared the life out of me.
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He had never been so scared in his life .
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The idea might seem silly nowadays, but it scared the life out of even the most blood-thirsty Viking warrior.
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When, however-many years later-the script finally did arrive, two things scared the life out of me.
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I have never been in a situation where I was so scared in all my life .
people
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I know how to scare people and I know how to hurt them.
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This scares many people-but , proponents argue, why not?
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Schiavo certainly deserves no credit for scaring people needlessly just to settle a score.
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What she has got is a hunger so fierce it scares people away.
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John Smith doesn't scare people anything like as much.
wit
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Suddenly, I heard a loud crash near me, scaring me out of my wits .
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People especially like to pat foals, and unfortunately usually on their face or head, which scares the wits out of them.
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It also came with a neighbor who scared the wits out of me, but about whom I was curious.
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They had seen the knuckles come out of the silken wrapping and the force of it scared their wits back into good manners.
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The film has gotten good reviews, but it has scared the wits out of some male film critics.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
afraid/frightened/scared etc of your own shadow
be scared witless
beat/surprise/scare the hell out of sb
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And I said, beats the hell out of me.
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Eddie knows this, and it scares the hell out of her.
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It scared the hell out of me.
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Just to make the move scared the hell out of me.
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Statistics like that scare the hell out of me, and they must scare a lot of CEOs too.
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There is no stopping planned randomness, and that scares the hell out of us.
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Today, he scares the hell out of a lot of Republicans.
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Tornadoes are not fascinating to me; they scare the hell out of me.
bore/scare etc the pants off sb
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He wasn't interested in the heavy political stuff which bored the pants off most people.
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It took ten minutes to reach Honey Cottage, with Yanto trying his best to scare the pants off Mary.
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Lovely people who scared the pants off him.
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The tests scare the pants off many managers.
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Though, mind you, it scares the pants off poor old Crumwallis.
bored/scared/worried stiff
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And I was scared stiff about having lied to Mel about being single when he hired me.
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Cis, who knew about it, was scared stiff .
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He was scared stiff , thought a ghastly mistake had been made.
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He was very naturally scared stiff of using up all his remaining petrol and making a bad landing.
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Mabel was by now scared stiff and frozen cold.
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Poor kid, thought Alice, he's scared stiff .
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We looked at each other, scared stiff , but we followed Mrs Bullivant upstairs.
drink/laugh/scare etc yourself silly
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Well, I laughed myself silly .
frighten/scare the life out of sb
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When, however-many years later-the script finally did arrive, two things scared the life out of me.
frighten/scare/terrify sb out of their wits
scare sb shitless
scare/frighten the (living) daylights out of sb
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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All the stuff he said about spiders kind of scared me.
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Don't creep up on me like that! You scared the living daylights out of me!
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He was driving fast just to scare us.
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It scared him to think that his mother might never recover.
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She scared the hell out of me when she said she had to go into hospital.
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We're not really going to get arrested - I think the police are trying to scare us.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Dad stormed out and I was so scared he was blaming me that I started crying.
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He remembered the menacing phone-calls to Nicola and wondered aloud whether some one from a drugs syndicate had been trying to scare her.
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He was scared to death, and his head was almost shaved like new recruits in armies the world over.
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The procedure is an effective means of scaring off applicants.
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They were sexually inexperienced at marriage, and scared of babies.
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Today, he scares the hell out of a lot of Republicans.
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Tracks can hardly afford to scare away the best horses now that rich races are plentiful and horse transportation is routine.
II. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
bomb
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She says that they were told that it was a bomb scare .
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No, not the usual boring bomb scare , but a cultural occasion of enormous significance.
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The previous day also the factory was evacuated after a bomb scare .
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Cross-channel ferries held up by a bomb scare ....
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Apparently there had been a bomb scare recently.
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Following the find, the centre was evacuated again because of a bomb scare which police believe was a hoax.
food
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However there has never been a food scare with lamb.
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Instead. these people only refer to farmers when there is news like a food scare to react to.
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I always seem to be reading about a new food scare .
story
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I don't want to start any scare stories , but it just illustrates our ignorance.
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The media buy into the scam because such scare stories about unseen threats make good headlines.
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Reports measuring the effect of lower radiation dosages conflict with these scare stories , sometimes drastically.
tactic
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This claim has never been proved and it may have been part of the Securitate's scare tactics .
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Republicans have complained that Democrats are using Social Security scare tactics to incite seniors groups and others to oppose the constitutional amendment.
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Whatever you may think about the morality of abortion, these are the most deplorable scare tactics .
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You also wrongly stated that we use scare tactics such as hostile looks or suggestive comments to keep women away.
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Then they used scare tactics , telling the audience that fat people were apt to succumb to something called Sudden Death syndrome.
■ VERB
give
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I only meant to give her a scare .
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
afraid/frightened/scared etc of your own shadow
be running scared
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Their new software has the competition running scared.
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Then why is it that Chretien appears to be running scared?
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To me, ti just looks like the fools are running scared.
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Whenever managers were laid off, he sensed in the ranks ever-higher levels of anxiety Even those who remained were running scared.
be scared witless
beat/surprise/scare the hell out of sb
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And I said, beats the hell out of me.
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Eddie knows this, and it scares the hell out of her.
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It scared the hell out of me.
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Just to make the move scared the hell out of me.
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Statistics like that scare the hell out of me, and they must scare a lot of CEOs too.
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There is no stopping planned randomness, and that scares the hell out of us.
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Today, he scares the hell out of a lot of Republicans.
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Tornadoes are not fascinating to me; they scare the hell out of me.
bore/scare etc the pants off sb
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He wasn't interested in the heavy political stuff which bored the pants off most people.
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It took ten minutes to reach Honey Cottage, with Yanto trying his best to scare the pants off Mary.
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Lovely people who scared the pants off him.
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The tests scare the pants off many managers.
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Though, mind you, it scares the pants off poor old Crumwallis.
bored/scared/worried stiff
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And I was scared stiff about having lied to Mel about being single when he hired me.
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Cis, who knew about it, was scared stiff .
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He was scared stiff , thought a ghastly mistake had been made.
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He was very naturally scared stiff of using up all his remaining petrol and making a bad landing.
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Mabel was by now scared stiff and frozen cold.
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Poor kid, thought Alice, he's scared stiff .
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We looked at each other, scared stiff , but we followed Mrs Bullivant upstairs.
drink/laugh/scare etc yourself silly
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Well, I laughed myself silly .
frighten/scare the life out of sb
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When, however-many years later-the script finally did arrive, two things scared the life out of me.
frighten/scare/terrify sb out of their wits
scare sb shitless
scare/frighten the (living) daylights out of sb
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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a health scare
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A year after Chernobyl the scare about radioactive food had died down.
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Aids has caused such a scare that fewer and fewer people are giving blood.
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Retail sales were down due to a spate of bomb scares before Christmas.
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Some people, nervous about the health scare over cellular phones, have started using hands-free apparatus.
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The game was delayed due to a bomb scare .
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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And behind bars ... puppy is seized in rabies scare .
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If she wishes to attach herself to the scare , I am delighted.
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That said, I think most virus scares are overblown.
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The scare has been blown out of proportion, said John Marchello, professor of animal science at the University of Arizona.
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The media buy into the scam because such scare stories about unseen threats make good headlines.
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Whatever you may think about the morality of abortion, these are the most deplorable scare tactics.