I. adverb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
an honest/straight answer
▪
The honest answer is that I don’t know.
dead straight/flat
▪
The countryside around here is dead flat all the way to the sea.
get your facts right/straight (= make sure that what you say or believe is correct )
▪
You should get your facts straight before making accusations.
get/come (straight) to the point (= talk about the most important thing immediately )
▪
I haven't got much time so let's get straight to the point.
in a straight line
▪
Light travels in a straight line .
look straight/right through sb
▪
I saw Fiona in the street yesterday and she looked straight through me.
sit up straight/sit upright (= with your back straight )
▪
Sit up straight at the table, Maddie.
Stand up straight
▪
Stand up straight and don’t slouch!
straight across (= without stopping )
▪
They ran straight across the road .
straight after (= immediately after )
▪
David went to bed straight after supper.
straight ahead
▪
He stared straight ahead .
straight arrow
straight A’s (= all A’s )
▪
Julia got straight A’s in high school.
straight line
▪
Draw a straight line across the top of the page.
straight man
straight shooter
straight through
▪
Carry on straight through the village.
straight through
▪
He drove straight through a red light.
straight ticket
straight
▪
Her nose was long, straight and elegant.
straight
▪
a girl with long straight hair
straight/dead ahead (= straight in front )
▪
The river is eight miles away dead ahead.
straight/right past (= used to emphasize that someone passes close to you and does not stop )
▪
Monica hurried straight past me and down the steps.
straight/right/clean through
▪
The bullet passed straight through his skull.
took to...straight away
▪
Sandra took to it straight away .
walk straight/right into sth
▪
I walked right into a mob of maybe 50 young white guys.
walk straight/right into sth
▪
You walked right into that one!
walk straight/right/bang etc into sth
▪
Zeke wasn’t looking and walked straight into a tree.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ VERB
come
▪
Both senior officers had felt it right to come straight to him.
▪
There was a track coming straight at me.
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He'd come straight from the fields, his smell was more what the child was used to.
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It's a scenario that could have come straight out of Hollywood, and quite possibly did.
▪
It was clear that the pilot was aiming to come straight over this time.
▪
One of the men came straight up to me and grabbed the kids.
▪
The sheep come straight in from the damp outdoors but infection must be kept at bay.
▪
It is suggested that the answer to ties comes straight from long-term memory.
drive
▪
She drove straight to the manor-house in Surrey.
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He was apparently planning to rent a car and drive straight to Verona.
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When a policewoman got out of the vehicle he rammed it and drove straight into a wall which was demolished.
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For six years we lived under the threat that the M18 could be driven straight through the centre.
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The car was driven straight from a studio photo session to the world's fastest track.
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The weather began to turn bad, and we drove ... drove straight into this storm, or something.
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It missed Coffin, who jumped back, then drove straight at Charley.
▪
As long as they're in credit they drive straight through.
fly
▪
When turning inbound after carrying out these procedures, simply fly straight to the station.
▪
This meant flying straight in to the airport and landing facing south.
▪
But Boston was socked in, so the plane flew straight to Frankfurt from Philadelphia.
▪
If they could fly straight away their parents would never find them and they would starve?
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The green bird flew straight down to it, its shadow confused and doubled by the moons.
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Very few fly straight into the roost; most of the ravens are in no hurry to land.
go
▪
I went straight to Rella's box.
▪
Calming myself I took it page by page, instead of going straight to the Rrap as I usually do.
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I took a quick look around, then went straight to the guest room.
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Harriet had gone straight into property after her A's and left home, funnily enough, before she did.
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They went straight to the hospital.
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Returning to the Hilton, they went straight up to the suite.
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If the engine fails on take-off, keep going straight ahead and crash land.
head
▪
Then it headed straight for the nearest suitable planet and effected a landing.
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The instant the tasting was over, the count headed straight for the airport.
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He was headed straight for jail.
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I headed straight for the kitchen.
▪
We head straight into the morning sun.
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When the Taylors reached Paris, they headed straight there.
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The Sun he bought long ago from Hugh Cudlipp was a misbegotten creation heading straight for the abattoir.
▪
And all reasons for not heading straight for the bank.
look
▪
I lifted up my glass of wine and looked straight into her eyes over the rim.
▪
Maria continued to look straight ahead.
▪
Mac sat quietly in the back, looking straight in front of him.
▪
He was just lying in the road, looking straight up.
▪
If not, she will pretend to look straight through him and pick at a plant leaf hoping he will go away.
▪
She looked straight at him as if nothing had happened in the night.
▪
For a moment they look straight into each other's eyes.
▪
Failing to communicate anything helpful to Marcello, the little Umbrian angel looks straight at the camera, and at us.
point
▪
He took an involuntary pace forward and raised the shotgun to point straight at Angel One's face.
▪
Her doll sits stiffly, pointed straight ahead at the fixtures that emerge from the wall.
▪
Then the rod-man screamed, arm pointing straight ahead at the surf.
▪
It was pointing straight at him now.
▪
I purchased a dedicated Pentax flashgun with an adjustable flash head which could be adjusted to point straight ahead or angled upwards.
▪
He is pointing straight at William, who has his hand up.
▪
Now keep it there and bend your body gradually sideways to the right, keeping your right arm pointing straight down.
▪
Its barrel was pointing straight at her.
run
▪
But at the front door I ran straight into a group of soldiers.
▪
The road made a last sharp turn and ran straight west along the shoreline into Angle Inlet.
▪
Jo ran straight up to her room and fell on the bed.
▪
I seen blood, and with his screaming, I panicked and ran straight to our house.
▪
When they got back to his London flat, she ran straight to the bedroom.
▪
Vick couldn't run straight ahead, and he couldn't turn the corner.
▪
The road ran straight across the desert for twenty miles.
▪
Emmitt will run straight ahead, tackle to tackle.
shoot
▪
All you have to do is get up close, keep your temper, and shoot straight .
▪
I hit a limb and the ball shot straight left.
▪
I reckon he might have been too dazzled by the glitter around him even to shoot straight .
▪
As the bosses of their own firm, their learning curve has shot straight up.
▪
But the target is no longer there -- even City Hall, until lately, hasn't been able to shoot straight .
▪
Any attempt to shoot straight out will rip yer bottom out!
▪
Morey would shoot straight with me; he always has.
sit
▪
She switches the light on in her room, and I go in and sit straight down on the chair.
▪
Suddenly, he sat straight up.
▪
Pearl had sat straight in her chair; her hands overturned on her knees.
▪
On hearing a noise, he and Barnabas sat straight up, seeing only a silhouette in the doorway.
stand
▪
He stood straight like an elegant, modern building with his large, black hands gently hanging by his lower body.
▪
A small sheet of paper, ripped from a sketch pad: Hair that stands straight up.
▪
He stood straight and still, breathing hard as if he were steeling himself to do something.
▪
He stood straight and his brow lifted enough so we could see his eyes.
▪
The Soviet boy stands straight , and salutes us with a stern expression on his face.
▪
With his bladder about ready to burst, Gao Yang could barely stand straight , let alone speak.
▪
He stands straight , like they do just before the game.
▪
Go to a wall and stand straight with your back against it.
stare
▪
Turning her head, she stared straight into Leo's eyes.
▪
He grunted a little and then stared straight ahead.
▪
The occupants of the car in front were staring straight ahead, not talking to each other, very tense.
▪
She clamps her jaw shut and stares straight ahead.
▪
All four rabbits were now staring straight at him.
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Squeezing his trembling lips shut, he stared straight ahead.
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His arms seem bolted to each arm rest and he is staring straight ahead at a television computer game.
▪
She sits on the couch in the locker room staring straight ahead as the others trade jokes.
talk
▪
Today it tends to be a more exclusive activity in which theologians talk straight to each other and down to the faithful.
▪
The Nineties belong to those who can talk straight .
think
▪
Since that day she had not been able to sleep, or to think straight .
▪
The buzz made it hard to think straight .
▪
Then she might - just might - be able to think straight .
▪
You are horrified, you can not think straight , as you stare at the broken body.
▪
One could never think straight when the body's ills took all one's attention.
▪
I - I can't think straight .
▪
But I wasn't thinking straight .
▪
If I'd been able to think straight five years ago, I'd never have married you.
walk
▪
But, this time, she was not going to walk straight into the trap.
▪
It was as if she left one movie and walked straight into another.-You all right?
▪
I feel rather that we would be walking straight into a trap.
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He was walking straight toward the van.
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Beatrix had set a trap for Maurice and he had walked straight into it.
▪
Newland Archer walked straight home again that afternoon.
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It is in danger either of making knowledge impossible or of walking straight into one of our sceptical arguments.
▪
He walked straight out on to the river.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
(straight/right) from the horse's mouth
give it to sb straight
▪
He gives it to you straight.
▪
Listen, Dan, let me give it to you straight, as I see it.
have your head screwed on (straight/right)
▪
Cloughie probably gets closest to it - not he himself but the No. 9 seems to have his head screwed on.
▪
She seemed to have her head screwed on right, even if she was a girl.
high-backed/straight-backed/low-backed etc
keep a straight face
▪
"I think I've lost that camera you lent me," I said, trying to keep a straight face .
▪
Barbara tried to keep a straight face , but in the end she just couldn't help laughing.
▪
He looked so ridiculous -- I don't know how I managed to keep a straight face .
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She looked so ridiculous it was hard to keep a straight face .
▪
When reading some of the competition entries, it was hard to keep a straight face .
▪
With a completely straight face , Thomas announced he was joining the Girl Guides.
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For the first hundred yards we keep straight faces .
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How can you say that and keep a straight face ?
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I keep a straight face and the composure of a chemist dispensing a prescription.
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I try and keep a straight face , but I can't help grinning at myself.
▪
It was very difficult to keep a straight face .
▪
The old trick of keeping a straight face was failing him these days.
put sb straight/right
put sth straight
set sb straight/right
▪
Someone had to set Dave straight on company policies and procedures.
set/put the record straight
▪
Having set the record straight there is a paradox.
▪
He sets the record straight by a thorough reconsideration of Addison's Cato, that tragedy constantly overrated at the time.
▪
I want to set the record straight.
▪
Or a desire to put the record straight?
▪
Taylor was given the perfect platform to set the record straight at yesterday's press conference.
▪
They have a duty to set the record straight, otherwise they are conniving at falsehood.
straight/stiff as a ramrod
▪
Said he was as stiff as a ramrod and would get nowhere, but he's pretty hard on people anyway.
think straight
▪
He was so dazed by all he had just been through that he couldn't think straight.
▪
I - I can't think straight.
▪
One could never think straight when the body's ills took all one's attention.
▪
Since that day she had not been able to sleep, or to think straight.
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Sooner or later he would be too exhausted to think straight and would give up the fight against himself.
▪
The buzz made it hard to think straight.
▪
Then she might - just might - be able to think straight.
▪
You are horrified, you can not think straight, as you stare at the broken body.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
Harry was so drunk he couldn't see straight .
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If you look straight ahead, you'll see the church in the distance.
▪
It's rained for eight days straight .
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Jane was walking purposefully along the hall, straight towards us.
▪
Terry was so drunk he couldn't walk straight .
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
Course two hundred ten degrees straight in for the central promontory.
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His gaze appeared to be fixed straight ahead, and he seemed utterly at peace with himself and his surroundings.
▪
Serve immediately straight from the soufflé dish.
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When at last it came, he carried it straight up to his bedroom and hid it under the wardrobe.
II. adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
dead
▪
I even resorted to going to a hairdresser who guaranteed that I'd emerge with dead straight hair.
▪
His favourite was in bright print patchwork, and he wore it dead straight , one inch above his eyebrows.
▪
They are dead straight and can be dowsed across country.
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You go straight forward in a dead straight line.
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He keeps going in a dead straight line.
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He takes a quick kick dead straight towards goal ... which shearer runs on to and scores.
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After running dead straight for about 160 metres, the Royal Road reaches the modern road from Heraklion.
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A peeled fine-grained stick, dead straight .
■ NOUN
answer
▪
Then I want a straight answer .
▪
Tommy gave straight answers and expected them in return.
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I also want a straight answer on Charlie Northrup.
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Designed to provide a straight answer to a straight question as fast as possible.
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Now that was a straight answer .
▪
You just have to give a straight answer .
choice
▪
Given a straight choice , I'd rather sit by a slug.
▪
Jack had been faced with a straight choice and he had chosen his career.
day
▪
A nice, straight day with the family - that seemed morally appropriate.
▪
The Big Hurt missed his sixth straight day of workouts and was scheduled to speak with owner Jerry Reinsdorf.
▪
The bond market, which thrives on slow growth and low inflation, rallied Wednesday for the second straight day .
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It marked the second straight day the 30-year bond price has fallen a point or more.
edge
▪
Positive curvature of edges can be trimmed away, if necessary, to give straight edges in plan.
▪
Many straight edges can be joined by picking up the edges, right sides together, on to the needlebed.
▪
As it cooks, neaten the sides with a spatula to build up a deep, straight edge .
▪
Use a board or a line as a guide when cutting straight edges or a length of hose pipe for curves.
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The only straight edges were on the television, which was even housed in a hideous gilt cabinet.
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Why not lay in the line of tempera, holding the brush against a straight edge , such as a ruler.
▪
He slammed the straight edge into his opponent's face, taking him between top lip and nostrils.
▪
Called Dual Control, it calculates where to lower or raise the plough to get a straight edge on the headland.
face
▪
The old trick of keeping a straight face was failing him these days.
▪
Kemp is straining to maintain a straight face .
▪
How can you say that and keep a straight face ?
▪
It was very difficult to keep a straight face .
▪
I keep a straight face and the composure of a chemist dispensing a prescription.
▪
We start with safe conversation and straight faces .
▪
Thkarni she said with a straight face .
▪
The plot is one that you can hardly repeat with a straight face .
game
▪
The Bruins had won five straight games decided by eight points or less.
▪
Pavel Bure scored two goals, but it wasn't enough to prevent Florida from losing its fourth straight game .
▪
Spellman, in the second year of a four-year, $ 11. 6 million contract, had missed five straight games .
▪
Kirk McLean made 39 saves as the Rangers lost their third straight game .
▪
So the Bears were left to search for silver linings after losing their third straight game .
▪
Cam Neely, who has 25 goals, missed his second straight game because of hip, foot and wrist ailments.
▪
He will miss his second straight game when the Kings play Edmonton tonight at the Forum.
▪
So much for that stat about Anthony Bookman and Mike Mitchell each rushing for more than 100 yards in three straight games .
hair
▪
By Tina at Marc Young Maximum root lift and volume achieved on long, straight hair .
▪
And perms, our straight hair tortured into frizz for the Christmas or Easter gathering and the requisite smiling photograph.
▪
I even resorted to going to a hairdresser who guaranteed that I'd emerge with dead straight hair .
▪
He was absorbed in eating, and his blond, straight hair fell forward over his forehead.
▪
She was a plain girl, with straight hair and thin limbs and a mathematical turn of mind.
▪
As mine was a redemptive story about fair hair , hers was one about straight hair.
▪
The lad intrigued him, with his curiously flattened nose, like a cat's, and his extremely coarse straight hair .
▪
Laz pumps my hand in a blustering manner that sends his straight hair bobbing over his ruddy face.
line
▪
All objects have a propensity to move in straight lines , upwards or downwards, towards their natural place.
▪
Bobbie favored straight lines over detours, but in her own way she too knew how to adapt.
▪
The beam carried on in a straight line , and hit the point where the bullseye ought to have been.
▪
Imagine yourself centred along a straight line running from the top of your head to your feet.
▪
To draw a conchoid of a straight line: Select a point A that is not on the straight line .
▪
A road goes straight , rivers meander; houses are in straight lines , trees irregular.
▪
An image is convex if every straight line with both ends in the image is actually entirely in the image.
loss
▪
After seven straight losses here, and almost eight, no one in the traveling party was feeling too nostalgic.
▪
This is exactly the sort of collapse that keyed their six straight losses in the last two months of last season.
▪
It was the Hokies' eighth straight loss .
nose
▪
A round face with a high forehead, blue eyes, short straight nose , a mantle of shining, fair hair.
▪
Gliding by they showed their fair faces, their committed brows and straight noses .
▪
The boy grew into a man with blue eyes, a long straight nose , and dark red hair.
▪
Her face was perfect: high cheekbones, a straight nose and a lush mouth.
▪
Thick dark hair, large eyes, pale unblemished skin, sculpted planes of the face, straight noses , strong mouths.
▪
She wore no make-up but had classic features, a straight nose , full lips and fine eyes.
▪
Dark hair, brown eyes, straight nose , not too short.
▪
She had a wide, full mouth, a straight nose , and the same piercing blue eyes as her brother.
path
▪
In a magnetic field, a moving charged particle is deflected from the straight path along which it was travelling.
▪
I have believed in carving a straight path to my objective and following that path.
▪
I am, in the mid-course of my life, looking for the straight path through the trees.
▪
Science is a logical pursuit but progress in science does not necessarily, or even usually, follow a straight path .
▪
Or like the Vicar they keep to the straight path because vice is more arduous than virtue.
▪
But that doesn't put Tommaso himself on a straight path .
▪
The circle was divided into four equal segments by two straight paths; she took one of the paths .
▪
It has no component of curvature lying in the surface, which makes it the straightest path possible over the surface.
road
▪
It was a straight road , the kind of road that leads to a temple or a sacred monument.
▪
The Lakers also missed a chance to win their eighth straight road game, something they last accomplished in 1973.
▪
One long straight road runs like a main vein down the arm of Grand Isle.
▪
The enclosure turned the Broyle into the landscape of ploughland bisected by long straight roads that it still remains.
▪
The landscape of straight roads , often unfenced, and of small geometrical plantations, is characteristic of this late period.
▪
He waited, seeing it well out of sight down the straight road .
▪
He used it even though there was now a good straight road running along the edge of the forest.
set
▪
It was over in less than an hour with Christina winning in straight sets .
▪
Edberg succumbed with minimal resistance, losing in straight sets .
year
▪
The company, the world's largest manufacturer of commercial aircraft, has experienced five straight years of record orders.
▪
But Bergman fizzled for the second straight year .
▪
Seattle has enjoyed a sun-splashed monsoon season for the second straight year , and temperatures topped 50 F on Wednesday.
▪
In the meantime, the one matchup which most local prep football fans long for went unplayed for the eighth straight year .
▪
For the second straight year , Major-League Baseball held a World Series.
▪
Smith, the former Tulsa coach, is in the Sweet 16 for the third straight year .
▪
He made the Pro Bowl for a fifth straight year after leading the Steelers in tackles and tackles for losses.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
Straight men often feel nervous in the company of gays.
▪
straight teeth
▪
a straight line
▪
Anne loved Rome, with its open spaces and long straight avenues.
▪
Did you do it? Just give me a straight yes or no.
▪
First, draw two straight lines across the page using a ruler.
▪
Her hair is blonde and very straight .
▪
Here's your dollar back - now we're straight .
▪
How about a straight swap, my "U2" album for this one?
▪
I've asked several people what happened, but no one will give me a straight answer.
▪
I can't stand it when your friends come to visit - they're so straight .
▪
I don't care what you've done, Mike - just be straight with me.
▪
I like my vodka straight .
▪
Paul's quite nice but he's awfully straight .
▪
She's straight but she's got a lot of lesbian friends.
▪
The crash occurred on a straight section of the highway.
▪
The New York Rangers have won seven straight games.
▪
The road ran dead straight for 50 miles across the desert.
▪
Tony Blair stated that he was 'a pretty straight kind of guy'.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
All the posts stood erect and unblemished in a dead straight line.
▪
He will miss his second straight game when the Kings play Edmonton tonight at the Forum.
▪
How difficult, they reasoned, could a straight quarter-mile be compared to driving 500 miles on an oval track?
▪
It is a closely-packed map with hardly a straight line or an empty space in it.
▪
Johnston has played in 149 straight games and started in 90 of the last 91.
▪
She realized that she wasn't walking in a straight line and was unsteady on her feet.
III. noun
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
(straight/right) from the horse's mouth
give it to sb straight
▪
He gives it to you straight.
▪
Listen, Dan, let me give it to you straight, as I see it.
have your head screwed on (straight/right)
▪
Cloughie probably gets closest to it - not he himself but the No. 9 seems to have his head screwed on.
▪
She seemed to have her head screwed on right, even if she was a girl.
keep a straight face
▪
"I think I've lost that camera you lent me," I said, trying to keep a straight face .
▪
Barbara tried to keep a straight face , but in the end she just couldn't help laughing.
▪
He looked so ridiculous -- I don't know how I managed to keep a straight face .
▪
She looked so ridiculous it was hard to keep a straight face .
▪
When reading some of the competition entries, it was hard to keep a straight face .
▪
With a completely straight face , Thomas announced he was joining the Girl Guides.
▪
For the first hundred yards we keep straight faces .
▪
How can you say that and keep a straight face ?
▪
I keep a straight face and the composure of a chemist dispensing a prescription.
▪
I try and keep a straight face , but I can't help grinning at myself.
▪
It was very difficult to keep a straight face .
▪
The old trick of keeping a straight face was failing him these days.
put sb straight/right
put sth straight
set sb straight/right
▪
Someone had to set Dave straight on company policies and procedures.
set/put the record straight
▪
Having set the record straight there is a paradox.
▪
He sets the record straight by a thorough reconsideration of Addison's Cato, that tragedy constantly overrated at the time.
▪
I want to set the record straight.
▪
Or a desire to put the record straight?
▪
Taylor was given the perfect platform to set the record straight at yesterday's press conference.
▪
They have a duty to set the record straight, otherwise they are conniving at falsehood.
straight/stiff as a ramrod
▪
Said he was as stiff as a ramrod and would get nowhere, but he's pretty hard on people anyway.
think straight
▪
He was so dazed by all he had just been through that he couldn't think straight.
▪
I - I can't think straight.
▪
One could never think straight when the body's ills took all one's attention.
▪
Since that day she had not been able to sleep, or to think straight.
▪
Sooner or later he would be too exhausted to think straight and would give up the fight against himself.
▪
The buzz made it hard to think straight.
▪
Then she might - just might - be able to think straight.
▪
You are horrified, you can not think straight, as you stare at the broken body.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
Wittman wrote: Much of our sexuality has been perverted through mimicry of straights, and warped from self-hatred.