I. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a concentration span (= the length of time that you are able to concentrate )
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Young children have a short concentration span.
a spider spins/weaves a web (= makes a network of threads )
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A spider had spun a web between the bars of the gate.
a wheel spins (= turns around quickly, when the vehicle is not going along )
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The rear wheels spun in the sand.
attention span
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Children often have a short attention span .
short attention span
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Children often have a short attention span .
spick and span
spin doctor
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White House spin doctors
spinning wheel
spinning...web
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He watched a spider spinning its web .
spin...yarn (= tell )
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The old captain would often spin us a yarn about life aboard ship.
spun out of control
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The car spun out of control and hit a tree.
time span
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It’s difficult to imagine a time span of a million years.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
around
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She spun around to watch the coin splash, but it was too late.
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She spun around on the porch and glared back at the open window.
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On the far side of the street he spun around , starring into the distance to watch for cabs.
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The stammering policeman spun around , tripped on the rusty pot, and all but crashed to the ground.
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With a snarl, Fox spun around and slapped him, harder than necessary.
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He stumbled, but before he could fall, he was spun around and Buck Leeper grabbed him by his lapel.
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He puts it on his head and spins around in one motion.
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Gao Ma spun around and climbed up on to the wall.
away
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Then the ball would drop quickly and spin away .
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The walls of the room spun away from us and out into space.
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But then the Triad thug was falling backward, the knife spinning away harmlessly through the air.
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She spun away like a top.
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He died for hours, shattering, fragmenting, spinning away over the tiles.
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All of family life had spun away from me.
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While it spun away , Clare had time to take in the appearance of the room.
back
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His face spun back in a whirlpool of anger.
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I worked hard at the mission house, holding on to the labor to keep from spinning back into myself.
off
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PacTel spun off its wireless operations, into AirTouch Communications, in a much-debated move.
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The company already spun off Case Corp., which makes agricultural and industrial equipment.
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Axcelis entered the market July 11, spun off from Eaton Corp., a Cleveland manufacturing company.
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As part of the corporate restructuring of the 1980s, May sold Caldor in 1989 and then spun off Venture in 1990.
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I made it to the jeep but the earth was spinning off its axis.
out
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In a world increasingly spinning out of control he finds few, if any, heroes.
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Meanwhile, we spun out and came to rest with the car still running.
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Or else she could spin out the repair until it was too late and they had to get somebody else.
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Perhaps the moon would spin out of its orbit and come crashing into the earth.
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The huge variety of shapes is partly fashion and partly an attempt to avoid a phenomenon known as spin out .
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But everything spun out of control.
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Apart from the interest charges involved, the longer a defendant can spin out the negotiations the better.
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Then I find them spun out .
round
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They spun round undisturbed in front of the nuclear power stations for several hours.
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The others had spun round , and the short sticks they were holding had belched terrifying thunderclaps and flashes of bright flame.
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Kicking down the side-rest as he jumped clear, he spun round in time to see Mariana slide down the bank.
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She spun round as he strolled into view behind her.
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Flight rather weak, but buoyant swimmers, like tiny gulls, often spinning round in circles and picking insects off surface.
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The barrels are spun round and heavy firing pins ignite each charge in turn, unleashing a volley of shots.
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She spun round and brought one heel down with tremendous force on to his outstretched hand.
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Plummer spun round , almost dropping the bottle and his glass.
■ NOUN
ball
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He spins the ball well, and is very impressive indeed.
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Or four men round the bat, off-spinners spinning the ball the other way.
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He began to move, spinning quickly on the ball of his right foot.
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At his best he does not spin the ball sharply, or get it to dip in, la Warne.
car
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Oscar Hansen has seen a lot of cars almost spin Out on the long turn and come up through his barbed wire.
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Cheek said one driver had lost control of his car and spun out, rolling down an embankment, but was unhurt.
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The car spun , the tires singing.
control
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In a world increasingly spinning out of control he finds few, if any, heroes.
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But everything spun out of control .
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The government called the plan dangerous, unconstitutional and liable to spin out of control .
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Schuster -- is spinning out of control , driven by the mercurial ambitions of the 72-year-old Redstone.
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Apparently, Marr had been driving with his wife when he spun out of control and smashed into a brick wall.
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He was, he had to admit, spinning out of control and leaving the road.
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There is also the danger that small, local agreements spin out of control as trade imbalances grow among their signatories.
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Is the government allowing social spending to spin out of control beyond the means of the taxpayers?
earth
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The Earth also spins , quickly enough to ensure that the nights are not too cold, nor the days too hot.
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The collision caused the earth to spin , giving us day and night.
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Time is infinite - the earth spins on.
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The Earth spins on an axis, creating north and south poles.
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I made it to the jeep but the earth was spinning off its axis.
head
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I laid there for a second, and when I tried to get up, my head was just spinning .
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Tug caught his breath and his head spun .
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Women carne into his office and laid out narratives that left his head spinning .
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My shirt is soaked through, my head is spinning .
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I was pouring with sweat, and my head was spinning .
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He puts it on his head and spins around in one motion.
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She rested, her head spinning .
heel
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Then he spun on his heel and stalked off round the side of the cart.
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John spun on his heel and ran back to the banister, his fist closing on empty air behind the moving figure.
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Duvall was jerked away from Jimmy, spinning on his heels so that he was facing the office door again.
plan
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Tenneco plans to spin off its shipbuilding unit by issuing separately traded shares in a new shipbuilding company to Tenneco shareholders.
room
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Sarah felt as if the room was spinning round, fearing that everyone would glance in her direction.
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The walls of the room spun away from us and out into space.
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She is said to be bricked up in her room , spinning her hand loom for all eternity.
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I remember staggering to bed, but the room continued to spin , leaving me nauseated and frightened.
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He was deadly pale, and he felt the room spinning round him.
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I could see the room beginning to spin as though I had had a dreadful shock or a moment of unbearable fear.
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During my stay with Gandhi in 1946, I entered his room while he was spinning .
story
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Joe was in top form, spinning stories , issuing pronunciamentos, dropping withering quips at every opportunity.
tale
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But Riva still spins her tales , for Rainbow's ears alone.
thread
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He should have read the writing on the machine they gave him to spin the golden thread .
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They were three, Clotho, the Spinner, who spun the thread of life.
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These were similar to miniature flywheels and added extra momentum while spinning the thread .
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The daughters of the night, they were Clotho, who spun the thread of life.
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One spun the thread of life, the second measured it and the third cut it.
top
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Obviously, any knock could send her mind spinning like a top .
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Inside a yellow barn set in rolling green hills, 10 Sufis spin like synchronized tops across the wooden floor.
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Sandro Botticelli s chart of hell is like a mushroom cloud or a child s spinning top .
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She spun away like a top .
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And that little boy spun around like a top .
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He spun tops and played with rubber balloons.
unit
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Tenneco plans to spin off its shipbuilding unit by issuing separately traded shares in a new shipbuilding company to Tenneco shareholders.
web
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Tiny, beautiful spiders, infused with an inner light, spinning their vast webs across the endless darkness.
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And when they could, they bought me what I needed to spin my web .
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Campbell was arrogant and weak and he spun a web of desperate lies around himself and both women.
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He hid in an abandoned dwelling, where a spider spun its web across the entrance, fooling the mob.
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He spun his web and ran there and here in scummy clothes with bloodshot eyeballs.
wheel
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Cesar threw half a dozen steering wheels , spinning like quoits, and then the saddle.
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The great moment comes while the wheel is spinning , and he does not yet know the outcome.
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There is also a slippage control which automatically cuts power if the wheels begin to spin under harsh acceleration.
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Dan lay on his back in the grass with his bike alongside him, wheels still spinning .
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The rear wheels of the Fiesta spun , trying to gain purchase in the sucking ooze.
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They also like to up-end push and pull toys for imaginary mending, and wheels can be spun at different speeds.
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In the distance, ponies in long-shafted light chariots trotted at a spanking pace, the wheels spinning around.
yarn
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Corso is no dope, and he spins a fascinating yarn .
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In wintertime the spinners gathered together in their cottages to spin and knit the yarn .
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Our women spun fine yarns in their own cottages, and supplemented the earnings of their husbands....
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It may be a contradiction in textile terms but these weavers spin a good yarn .
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She liked to spin yarn , sing, and dance.
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He could spin a yarn , and you had to take what he said with a pinch of salt.
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The extra strength of synthetic fibre allows Evergreen to spin finer yarns with efficiency.
■ VERB
begin
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As he glanced up, the green canopy began to spin .
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When Frank began to spin me around, I spun on.
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Medoc had begun to spin the Draoicht Suan, the ancient and powerful Enchantment of Slumber.
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There is also a slippage control which automatically cuts power if the wheels begin to spin under harsh acceleration.
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Stories can be begun from scratch or spun off samples.
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The aircraft began spinning to the right and crashed on the roadway, receiving substantial damage.
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I could feel my head begin to spin .
send
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It performed a Velcro impersonation, sending me spinning right back down to the pitch below.
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Obviously, any knock could send her mind spinning like a top.
start
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By her own testimony she exited when it started spinning out of control.
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I moved the bum leg then, limped toward the door, and I started to spin .
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So pull on those thinking caps, get the vinyl out of the closet and start spinning those records.
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Stevie would start spinning stuff out of whole cloth to Bill, and before long, the whole camp would fall silent.
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Near as we can tell, it was Boyd himself who started spinning that scenario.
try
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Note how this time the glider has a very pronounced inner wing-drop at the stall and tries to spin .
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You then sweep hard into the pad and try to spin your partner without leaning forwards or over-committing yourself.
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Sarella tried to spin from his grasp, and he let her go as if surprised to see her move so quickly.
watch
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She flung the fragment of saucer as far as she could, watching it spinning against the sky.
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Sensing she was being watched , she spun round to face the doorway, the Beretta gripped tightly at arm's length.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
spin like a top
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And then the Alouette was spinning like a top and curving off over the Aegean.
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Obviously, any knock could send her mind spinning like a top .
turn/spin on your heel
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Seifert turned on his heels and stomped away in anger.
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Cooper turned on his heels and walked away.
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He turned on his heel and went into the dining room.
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I turned on my heel and left the room.
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She turned on her heel and vanished into the murk.
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Suddenly, the boar had been faced with a cliff too steep to climb and had turned on its heel .
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Then she turned on her heel and we marched back down the hall.
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Then, without a word, he turned on his heel and left the room.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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Spin the wheel of the bicycle to make sure that it is fastened correctly.
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He spun the dial on the padlock right, then left, then right again.
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I sat back and watched the ceiling fan spin above me.
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On the sidewalk, children took turns spinning a top.
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The boy was spinning around in his father's desk chair.
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The ice skater began to spin faster and faster.
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The village has a reputation for spinning fine wool yarn.
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The wheels where spinning in the mud, but the car wouldn't move.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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November 21 A whirlpool of mutual hatred With accelerating fury the Middle East's cycle of violence spins.
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They spun round undisturbed in front of the nuclear power stations for several hours.
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They simply spin a silken sling to attach themselves to a twig.
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We spin on an axis, or tilt, of about 23. 5 degrees from the sun.
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Witnesses recalled a clap of wood and the sight of Bailey plunging toward the ground, then his dangling body spinning hard.
II. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
good
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He puts a good spin on things.
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Morris immediately began putting the best possible spin on his predicament.
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Instead, outside Tufnell and Emburey, he forms with Jeremy Batty the best spin partnership in county cricket.
head
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Just to dream of their stimulating discussions was enough to make his head spin .
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Hope was making my head spin .
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The figures were enough to make her head spin .
new
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Some have been due to the aircraft getting into a new mode of spin , but others have been due to poor recovery techniques.
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A win will prove them wrong and put a whole new spin on this season.
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Lively in flavor but quick to prepare, this chicken dish gives a new spin to the traditional grilled fare.
positive
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There could be a positive spin to it because now you can keep an eye on Hurley for us.
top
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Borg himself revolutionised the game with his two-handed backhand and top spin from either side.
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As a young player I look for subtlety and skill, not big top spin shots all the time.
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The position of left hand imparts top spin to ball.
■ NOUN
axis
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Its distance from the planet's spin axis must therefore be decreasing.
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Radar observations have also shown that the inclination of the spin axis is less than 3°.
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This shows the simple case of a spin axis which is perpendicular to the line of sight.
bowler
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The visitors made 91-9 and Newtown spin bowler Keith Harding took 7 wickets for 41.
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A nimble slip fielder and occasional spin bowler , he played for Suffolk in 1938 and 1939 after leaving Hampshire.
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Throughout the 1930s he emerged as one of the classic left-hand spin bowlers of all time.
control
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So far, that spin control does not seem to have succeeded.
doctor
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It will take a masterly spin doctor to conjure upbeat images from a bleak Kansas youth.
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They can stop hiring self-promoting celebrity spin doctors .
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The election was won despite the spin doctors .
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For months, the spin doctors relied on the training imparted at such teaching hospitals as the Downing Street Policy Unit.
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The prime minister's spin doctors paid great attention to women's magazines during the run-up to the poll.
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Late Victorian spin doctors fretted about the contempt in which the throne was held.
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At 46 he's now director of corporate communications at Whitbread's Brewery what others might call a spin doctor .
electron
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This is a consequence of electron spin .
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Increasingly U-series dates are being used in conjunction with electron spin resonance dates using the same materials.
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For the moment just note that electron spin provides a second example of a two-dimensional state vector space in quantum mechanics.
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The rules can be divided into those concerned with electron spin and those related to orbital properties.
■ VERB
give
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This means that their spins are guaranteed to cancel each other out to give a total spin of zero.
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Some readers may give them a moralistic spin , arguing that they prove something essential about gay men or homosexuality or promiscuity.
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He is acknowledging things we already know, and giving them his own spin , rather than letting us in on secrets.
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Lively in flavor but quick to prepare, this chicken dish gives a new spin to the traditional grilled fare.
go
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At four hundred feet he hadn't enough altitude from which he could recover if he went into a spin .
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After decent dousing on Splash Mountain, need to go into spin cycle to dry off.
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Just one stroke of his quivering oar and the skin of the Thames goes into a spin , eh?
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They show what happens when an economy goes into a downward spin .
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She, in all her finery, and Levine went up for a spin in a Ford trimotor.
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They went into a spin , wheeling head over heels about their warm, wet mutual centre.
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It happened so fast that her mind went into a spin , and she reeled dizzily, her gaze unfocused.
make
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Just to dream of their stimulating discussions was enough to make his head spin .
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But topping the sandwich off with enough shredded lettuce to make Cesar Chavez spin in his grave is not.
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The fiery stuff made me gag, and the music made my head spin .
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Ask them how the marbles could be used to make the book spin .
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Hope was making my head spin .
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The figures were enough to make her head spin .
put
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He puts a good spin on things.
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Nixon lived long enough after his Watergate humiliation to put his own revisionist spin on his history.
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A win will prove them wrong and put a whole new spin on this season.
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Washington was also eager to put its own spin on the news it was imparting.
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Rule No. 1 of scandal hunting is that you must not put an obviously partisan spin on things.
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Morris immediately began putting the best possible spin on his predicament.
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Another liberty Webster extended to himself was putting his own spin on definitions.
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They sat in ragged groups at their foxholes, some of them silent, others putting moral spin on the day.
take
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It will take a masterly spin doctor to conjure upbeat images from a bleak Kansas youth.
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That would take a spin rate sufficient to shorten the day to something like 2 hours.
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Car joy: Prince Charles presented a £54,000 hi-tech van to disabled man who then took him for a spin .
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She was obviously impatient to be taken out for a spin even though there was hardly puff enough to stir her anemometer.
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As long as your pet is under control you're welcome to take a spin round the store.
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I'd like to take it for a spin .
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He woke at tea time and took Lily for a spin in the car.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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Bicycle riders performed dangerous spins and flips off ramps and curved walls.
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He made a quick spin to avoid the oncoming player.
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the spin of a propeller
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The senator was determined to put a positive spin on the affair.
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What we would like to see is more realistic policies and less Labour Party spin .
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Whatever spin the government tries to put on it, this can be seen as nothing less that a massive defeat.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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A win will prove them wrong and put a whole new spin on this season.
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For the moment just note that electron spin provides a second example of a two-dimensional state vector space in quantum mechanics.
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Nixon lived long enough after his Watergate humiliation to put his own revisionist spin on his history.
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Once again his weakness against spin was exposed when Bandara bowled him with a leg-break.
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The tundras will drag you into a spin .