Noun + Noun Collocations List

REF	LEVEL	COLLOCATION	MEANING	EXAMPLE
CO12
CO12		stage fright	nervousness felt at appearing before an audience	Don't be disheartened, everyone will have stage fright the first time.
CO12		a pressure group	an interest group organized to influence public	The pressure group is pushing for a ban on GM foods.
CO12		a hatchet man	someone who is employed to do unpleasant jobs	Mark always had a hatchet man do the dirty work for him.
CO12		cupboard love	insincere love professed for the sake of gain	I don't think he actually loves his aunt. It's simply cupboard love.
CO12		a search warrant	a document authorizing police to search premises	The police must have a search warrant to search the premises.
CO12		a punch line	the final phrase or sentence of a joke or story	She is always looking for the punch line to every situation.
CO12		a knowledge base	a store of information that is available to draw on	That evolving knowledge base will present a particular challenge.
CO12		monkey business	mischievous or deceitful behaviour	His wife could do nothing about his monkey business at the pub.
CO12		a home truth	an unpleasant fact that jars the sensibilities	Helen decided it was time to tell her boyfriend a few home truths.
CO12		an ocean current	a continuous, directed movement of seawater	Scientists are building computer models of the ocean currents.
CO13
CO13		the rat race	a continual routine of hectic competitive activity	Children are forced into the rat race for higher salary and prestige.
CO13		Hobson's choice	a choice of taking what is available or nothing at all	It's a case of Hobson's choice, because I have to agree to their terms.
CO13		elbow grease	a lot of physical effort	The stain will come off. It just takes some elbow grease.
CO13		a shelf life	the length of time for which an item remains usable	Normally corn flakes have a shelf life of just twelve months.
CO13		a wild goose chase	a and hopeless search for something unattainable	It looks like they've sent me on a wild goose chase.
CO13		a flash point	a situation in which violence or hostility flares up	The most plausible flash point for a U.S.-China conflict is Taiwan.
CO13		a road hog	a selfish or aggressive driver	I had to swerve when that road hog overtook me and cut in front.
CO13		a beauty parlour	a shop where hairdressers and beauticians work	Maria has just had her legs waxed at the local beauty parlour.
CO13		property rights	legal rights in or against specific property	The firm was found to have infringed intellectual property rights.
CO13		an opinion poll	asking people for their opinion on a subject	The opinion poll shows that the president's popularity has declined.
CO14
CO14		a stream of abuse	a series of rude or angry words	Most of the letter consisted of a stream of abuse.
CO14		a figment of imagination	something imagined or created by your mind	I really thought she liked me, but it was a figment of imagination.
CO14		a quirk of fate	a strange and unexpected event	By a quirk of fate we have booked into the same hotel.
CO14		a breach of confidence	when someone gives away secret information	Telling other people what I'd said was a total breach of confidence.
CO14		a flurry of excitement	a sudden, short period of excitement	There was a flurry of excitement as the winning number was called.
CO14		a lapse of memory	a brief or temporary failure of memory	Mark had a lapse of memory but now everything is fine.
CO14		pangs of conscience	a feeling of shame, guilt or embarrassment	I would have pangs of conscience if I had given a different answer.
CO14		a stroke of luck	something good that happens to you by chance	My car broke down opposite a garage, which was a stroke of luck.
CO14		a bone of contention	a cause of argument or quarrelling	The funding of schemes has also been a bone of contention.
CO14		a debt of gratitude	the fact of being grateful to sb who has helped you	We all owe her a great debt of gratitude, and we wish her well.
CO15
CO15		a shred of	a very small amount of something	There's still a shred of hope that a peace agreement can be reached.
CO15		a bout of	an attack or period of illness	Occasionally we all suffer from influenza or a bout of sickness.
CO15		a spate of	a large number of things (usually unpleasant)	Police say the arrests follow a spate of crimes in the area.
CO15		a pang of	a sudden strong feeling of pain	Andrew felt a pang of remorse for what he had done.
CO15		a state of	a condition that exists at a particular time	The government has declared a state of emergency in the region.
CO15		a branch of	a part of something larger	They divided the Science domain into three branches of science.
CO15		a wealth of	a large amount of something	Switzerland has an enormous wealth of beautiful old buildings.
CO15		a flash of	a sudden, powerful emotional or mental experience	The idea came to him in a flash of inspiration/genius.
CO15		a means of	a method or way of doing something	Sleigh is an important means of transportation in this area.
CO16
CO16		a panel of	a small group of people chosen to give advice	A panel of judges will choose three finalists, and the winner.
CO16		a board of	a group of people who administer a company	The board of directors of the firm has been reconstituted recently.
CO16		an assembly of	the meeting together of a group of people	The film filled smaller roles with an assembly of notable comedians.
CO16		a cabinet of	a small group of important people in government	His cabinet of ministers lacks intelligence and diplomacy.
CO16		a cast of	all the people who perform in a play, film etc.	It's a great cast of actors, a team of people behind the scenes.
CO16		a troupe of	a group of actors, singers, etc.	A troupe of dancers is one of the leading attractions here.
CO16		a horde of	a large crowd of people	There are always hordes of tourists here in the winter.
CO16		a patrol of	a small group of boy scouts or Guides	A patrol of Scouts moved through a field towards a compound.
CO16		a circle of	a group of people who have similar interests	Amanda was always surrounded by a circle of admirers.
CO16		a team of	a group of people who play a game together	Your nephew just needs to join a local team of football players.
CO17
CO17		a column of	a line of moving people or vehicles	A column of tanks rumbled along a main highway.
CO17		a party of	a group of people who go somewhere together	The school is taking a party of thirty children to Portugal.
CO17		a crew of	a group of sailors who work together on a ship	The crew of the ship were winched to safety by a rescue helicopter.
CO17		an army of	a large number of people or things	An army of workmen was brought in to build the shopping centre.
CO17		a cavalry of	the part of an army that fights on horses	A cavalry of cops had to be called in to put things in order.
CO17		a mob of	a group of people who are similar in some way	The mob of hooligans were arrested for damaging public property.
CO17		a staff of	a group of people employed by a company	They have a staff of 30 people, dedicated to assisting the community.
CO17		a band of	musicians who play popular music together	Have you ever wondered what makes a band of musicians so special?
CO17		a dynasty of	a series of rulers who are all from the same family	The fabled middle Tang Dynasty of China lasted almost 300 years.
CO17		a congregation of	a group of people gathered together in a church	The first congregation of their Church was organized in 1846.
CO18
CO18		a coat of	a layer of paint or some other substance	The woodwork has recently been given a fresh coat of paint.
CO18		a flight of	a set of stairs between one floor and the next	He followed Mary up the narrow flight of stairs to the third floor.
CO18		a cluster of	things of the same type that appear close together	Have a look at the cluster of galaxies through the telescope.
CO18		a plank of	a long narrow flat piece of wood	You can crumple a piece of paper, but not a plank of wood.
CO18		a leg of	one part of a long journey or race	It was a deeply pleasant way to travel the last long leg of the journey.
CO18		a fleet of	a group of ships, or all the ships in a nation's navy	There is enough water in the harbour to float a fleet of ships.
CO18		a pane of	a piece of glass used in a window or door	It's a huge window made from a single pane of glass.
CO18		the cradle of	the place where something important began	It's said that Greece was the cradle of Western civilization.
CO18		a quiver of	?a case for carrying arrows	Cupid was often depicted with wings, a bow, and a quiver of arrows.
CO18		a tuft of	?a number of pieces of hair closely together	Lynxes have short tails, and a tuft of hair on the tip of the ears.
CO19
CO19		a dole (bevy) of	?a large group of a particular type of bird	The dole of doves circled around the villages in the Cotswold Park.
CO19		a pride of	?a group of lions	All of the females in a pride of lions will give birth at the same time.
CO19		the hive of	the bees living in a hive	We sipped various honey wines and watched a hive of bees at work.
CO19		a shoal of	a large number of fish swimming together	The shoal of herring swam past heading for the open sea.
CO19		a troop (band) of	a large group of monkeys	Guidebooks suggest trails where you can spot a troop of monkeys.
CO19		a pack of	a group of animals that hunt together	The herd of reindeer was being trailed by a pack of wolves.
CO19		a herd of	a group of animals of the same type	A herd of elephants lolloped across the plains towards the plain.
CO19		a colony of	a group of animals that live together	A colony of penguins was lying about on the rocks.
CO19		a murder of	a group of crows (large black birds)	A murder of crows was flying high in the sky.
CO19		a plague of	a swarm of insects that attack plants	The region has just suffered a plague of locusts.
CO20
CO20		a pinch of	a very small amount	Add a pinch of salt and season with freshly ground black pepper.
CO20		a rasher of	a thin slice of bacon or ham	We were served eggs, a few rashers of bacon, and coffee.
CO20		a bale of	a large amount of a material such as hay or wool	Check the care label on the bale of fabric when you are buying it.
CO20		a keg of	a barrel for holding or serving sth such as beer	Mark was able to lift a keg of beer from the floor to the bar.
CO20		a clove of	one of the separate parts that form a garlic plant	Add a crushed clove of garlic but don't let it burn.
CO20		a sliver of	a small pointed piece that has been broken off sth	Just a sliver of cake for me, please - I shouldn't really be having any.
CO20		a tube of	a long container that has an opening at one end	You'll be able to get a tube of glue at the stationer's down the road.
CO20		a grain of	a single fruit or seed of a cereal	Each microdot is the size of a grain of sand and contains an identifier.
CO20		a book of	a set of things such as stamps, matches, or tickets	While Greg was in Spain recently he bought a book of stamps.
CO20		a cube of	an object that has six square sides	He dropped a cube of sugar into his tea and stirred it with a spoon.
CO21
CO21		a can of	a metal container in which food and drink is sold	A smiling man holding a can of beer came over to us.
CO21		a loaf of	a shaped or molded mass of bread	Damian went to the baker's to buy a loaf of fresh bread.
CO21		a bar of	a solid piece of sth that is shaped like a rectangle	I used to buy a bar of chocolate every day and give half to my friend.
CO21		a bunch of	a number of things of the same type	She took a bunch of keys from the pocket of her old trousers.
CO21		a slice of	a thin flat piece of bread, meat, cheese, etc.	Everyone should have a fair slice of the cake.
CO21		a lump of	a piece of sth solid, without a particular shape	A huge lump of rock had split off from the cliff face.
CO21		a bottle of	a container for liquids, made of glass or plastic	They always bring a bottle of wine when they come to dinner.
CO21		a jar of	a round glass container, with a lid	There is a jar of marmalade on the breakfast table.
CO21		a bowl of	a deep round dish with a wide open top	She brought a bowl of water and began to bathe the injured arm.
CO21		a segment of	one of the sections of an orange, a lemon, etc.	The salad was decorated with segments of orange.
CO22
CO22		a sheet of	a thin, flat, rectangular piece of something	Tim has traced the touring map onto a sheet of paper.
CO22		a bundle of	a number of things tied or wrapped together	They collected a bundle of old clothes to be given to poor people.
CO22		a box of	a box and its contents	She was sent a box of chocolates along with a letter.
CO22		a drop of	a small amount of a drink	He hasn't touched a drop of alcohol for several years.
CO22		a plot of	a small area of planted ground	David bought a small plot of land to build a house on.
CO22		a make of	the manufacturer or trade name of a product	The vehicle's number plates didn't match the make of the car.
CO22		a file of	a folder or box for holding loose papers together	He had compiled a file of largely circumstantial evidence.
CO22		a heap of	a large, disordered pile of things	A scattered heap of books and manuscripts lay on the floor.
CO22		a chain of	a group of businesses such as shops or hotels	They have built up a chain of 250 bookshops across the country.