I.verbCOLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a bit depressedBritish Englishspoken:
▪ I felt a bit depressed because I was so short of money.
a bit of a chatspoken BrE:
▪ Perhaps I could have a bit of a chat with him.
a bit of a cheek
▪ It’s a bit of a cheek, asking me for money.
a bit of a misunderstandingBritish English
▪ I’m afraid it’s all a bit of a misunderstanding.
a bite mark (=a mark where something has bitten you)
▪ Her arms were covered in itchy bite marks.
a bite to eat (=a small meal)
▪ We should have time for a bite to eat before we set out.
a bit/little scared
▪ I was always a little scared of my father.
a dog bites sb
▪ Their dog had bitten a little girl on the leg.
a fish bites (=it takes food from a hook and gets caught)
▪ The fish aren’t biting today.
a little/a bit nervous
▪ I was a little nervous before the interview.
a piece/bit of cheese
▪ Would you like a piece of cheese?
a piece/bit of chocolate
▪ Would you like a piece of chocolate?
a piece/bit of information (also an item of informationformal)
▪ He provided me with several useful pieces of information.
a snake bites sb
▪ I might get bitten by a snake.
a spider bites sb
▪ He was bitten by a tropical spider in a bunch of bananas.
an icy/biting/bitter wind (=very cold)
▪ She shivered in the icy wind.
an insect bite
▪ He was worried about a large red insect bite on his back.
be a bit of a blowBritish Englishespecially spoken (= be disappointing or cause problems for you)
▪ The result was a bit of a blow for the team.
be a bit of a gamble (=involve a small amount of risk)
▪ It was a bit of a gamble putting him on the field, but he played well.
be (a bit of a) minefield
▪ Dating can be a bit of a minefield.
be a bit of a myth (=be not really true)
▪ The whole story is a bit of a myth.
be a bit of a shockBritish Englishespecially spoken (= be a shock, but not very serious or unpleasant)
▪ I wasn’t expecting to win, so it was a bit of a shock.
be a bit of an exaggerationinformal (= be a slight exaggeration)
▪ It's a bit of an exaggeration to say he's handsome.
bit part
▪ He’s had bit parts in a couple of soaps.
bit player
▪ Although he was NRC chairman, Hervey was strictly a bit player in government.
bite into an apple
▪ Sue bit into her apple with a loud crunch.
bite your nails
▪ Eddie bit his nails nervously.
every bit as much as
▪ I loved him every bit as much as she did.
every last drop/bit/scrap etc (=all of something, including even the smallest amount of it)
▪ They made us pick up every last scrap of paper.
is a bit of a mess
▪ Sorry – the place is a bit of a mess.
I’m a bit shortBritish Englishspoken (= I haven’t got much money at the moment)
Let’s have a bit of hush
▪ Let’s have a bit of hush, please, gentlemen.
love bite
nails...bitten to the quick
▪ Her nails were bitten to the quick.
savage/stinging/vicious/biting satire
▪ a biting satire of the television industry
see you in a bitBritish English (= see you soon)
sound bite
threepenny bit
tiny bit
▪ She always felt a tiny bit sad.
went a bit mad (=spent a lot of money)
▪ We went a bit mad and ordered champagne.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
back
▪ But the apple is biting back.
▪ Unfortunately, the very live bat bit back, and Osbourne underwent a painful series of precautionary rabies injections.
▪ So she bit back her explanation, even though she could not bring herself to respond to André's embrace.
▪ Her teeth sank into her bottom lip, biting back a cry, and she winced.
▪ But she bit back the words.
▪ And biting back ... the Whitesnake man plays it again.
▪ She had the insane desire to tell all that to this man, but she bit back the words.
▪ She bit back on her irritation.
deep
▪ The handcuffs bit deep into his wrist as Sullivan pulled at the fallen body beside him.
▪ Cherith's betrayal had bitten deep, then - deeper even than Folly had realised.
down
▪ He bit down on it, and the display began to supply proximity and ground contour information.
▪ She bit down on her garlic, which cracked coldly, like bamboo being sliced by a knife.
▪ She felt faint now, but for a very different reason, and she bit down hard on her lip.
▪ By bracing herself against the tree and biting down hard on her lip, she was able to struggle to her feet.
▪ The nails on the hand clutching the pen were bitten down to the quick - always a sign of savagery.
▪ Yeah, so I was just telling Mr Glover that the fish are biting down there this afternoon.
▪ She bit down on his lower lip, gently, just enough to excite and not enough to hurt.
▪ I put my arm over my mouth and bit down on it to keep from crying out.
hard
▪ Lily put her fist in her mouth and bit hard on her fingers.
▪ She twisted her mouth in a cry of sheer ecstasy and bit hard on her lip.
▪ Her teeth bit hard into her lower lip.
▪ The boy smiled faintly, and then bit hard on his lips and gnawed the smile away.
off
▪ My head had been bitten off.
▪ He just might bite off a finger or a nose or poke you in the ear.
▪ But what happened to me was that my head was bitten off almost literally.
▪ It must, instead, be bitten off like this: 1.
▪ Striped in a tiger mask, he feinted across the counter at Melanie; she bit off an exclamation.
▪ The last thing he did was bite off the little finger of her left hand.
▪ Council members took jabs and butted heads and bit off ears, figuratively speaking.
▪ The 435 members of the House each are expected to bite off a specialty and run with it.
once
▪ Once bitten and the bite had gone deeper, he now knew, than he had ever appreciated.
■ NOUN
bug
▪ It was then that the drama bug had bitten.
▪ The bug had even bitten the hawkers.
▪ The collecting bug often bites early.
▪ It felt cool and astringent but the bugs kept biting.
bullet
▪ In the February issue I warned you that I was going to bite the bullet and buy a real computer.
▪ You see, as Job Survivor I am sweating bullets by night, biting bullets by day.
▪ If the Socialists win the election, they too will have to bite the bullet.
▪ It means Labour biting the bullet.
▪ Shouldn't we bite the bullet now and legislate, as many are suggesting?
▪ When fate marks you down for immortality you'd just better bite the bullet and lace your boots up tight.
dust
▪ The finale of Unforgiven is as much a tragedy for the survivors as for those who bite the dust.
▪ Another good restaurant bites the dust -- end of story, right?
▪ So what are you going to do, now that your favourite C64 action mag has bitten the dust?
▪ They bite the dust with lead in their bellies.
hand
▪ Somehow, without guidance and peer influence, cricketers are apt to bite the hand that feeds them.
▪ The third woman went to pull a weed in her front yard and a rattler bit her hand.
▪ The studs bit into Trent's hand.
▪ This appears to be a new version of biting the hand that feeds you.
▪ He bit him in the hand.
▪ It is hard to bite the hand that feeds you.
▪ Should they then turn around to bite the hand that takes down their volunteered confessions, they will fail.
▪ Why does a cat sometimes bite the hand that strokes it?
head
▪ This Katherine bites the heads off rag-dolls and threatens her sister Bianca with a pair of pinking shears.
▪ He had no right to bite the head off one of his staunchest friends.
▪ You could trust him not to take the mickey, or to turn round and bite your head off.
▪ A geek is a carnival performer who bites the heads off live chickens and snakes.
▪ Just to bite their heads off.
▪ His ankles are reddened by sand-flea bites, his head has been shorn to indicate his reduction in status.
▪ I could have bitten her head off.
▪ Not two minutes in his company and she was biting his head off.
lip
▪ Now she stopped, biting her lip.
▪ She was biting her lower lip.
▪ Emily bit her lip, the girl was obviously in touch with Craig, perhaps they were even living in the same house.
▪ She bit her lip over the length, but there was little she could do about it.
▪ She bound her brows and bit her lower lip and generally carried on like some one with serious constipation.
▪ She bit on her lip, an exquisite agony tearing her apart.
▪ Dinah bit her lips, to keep from screaming.
▪ Peach bit her lip, feeling the sweat trickle down the back of her shirt.
mosquito
▪ We lived in the bush, drank muddy water, were bitten by mosquitoes.
▪ Dear Madam: I have your claim for $ 5. 00 for having been bitten by a mosquito on our train.
▪ People living near Lambarene can be bitten by infected mosquitoes as often as 100 times a night.
▪ Humans contract the disease when bitten by mosquitoes that have been infected by primates.
▪ Through that hot and humid night, he was bitten by mosquitoes and nipped by rats.
nail
▪ His nails were bitten to the quicks.
▪ Lissa's nails bit convulsively into her palms.
▪ He thrust his face into hers, forcing her to breathe his rancid breath; his untrimmed nails bit into her arms.
▪ Her hands were small and her nails were bitten and short.
▪ Quiet, reserved, with finger nails bitten down to the quick, Jim stood just five foot six inches tall.
piece
▪ If you then hold food near its mouth, it will bite off pieces and swallow them.
recession
▪ Their worst patch was in 1989 and 1990, before recession really bit.
▪ The recession may be biting in our own larders.
▪ Hard-up families in the stockbroker belt are begging state schools to bail them out as the recession bites deeper.
▪ Trafalgar shares have slumped from a peak of £3.96 three years ago as the recession has bitten into profits.
snake
▪ They turn into snakes and bite each other.
▪ They knew, and he knew, that when that snake bit YOu, you died.
sound
▪ I was thinking back to famous historical sound bites.
▪ Great inaugural speeches generally have one memorable sound bite.
▪ It was hardly the stuff of which sound bites are made.
▪ The issue is too complicated for honest sound bites anyway.
tongue
▪ He's not and would be wise to bite his tongue.
▪ He wished with all his soul that he had bitten his tongue instead.
▪ Polly battled on, practically biting her tongue in half.
▪ Tell them to bite their tongues.
▪ Whatever the reason, Dauntless bit his tongue and resolved to put up with Cleo Sinister.
▪ Ivan Yerineev was thrown to the ground and bit off his tongue.
▪ She could have bitten off her impulsive tongue.
▪ But they want a pink one, so Ralph takes out a pink one, bites his tongue.
■ VERB
begin
▪ Yet as constraints on funding begin to bite a new dynamic is becoming apparent.
▪ Charlea burst not into tears but began to bite her lip and soon broke out into gales of laughter.
▪ Next came his three younger sisters whom he began to terrorise - biting, kicking and scratching them.
▪ When his stepfather, Douglas Reynolds, intervened, Campbell began biting Reynolds' face, police said.
▪ I had to paint the gashes as soon as possible so that rust would not begin to bite into Wavebreaker's long sleekness.
▪ Once the constraints on local authority capital expenditure began to bite it cooperated with private housing development on inner-area sites.
▪ This increase occurred after the 1996 Asylum and Immigration Act, which denied refugees access to social housing, began to bite.
start
▪ Babies start to bite and chew about half-way through their first year.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
(a bit of) a mouthful
(it's) a bit thick
(just) that little bit better/easier etc
▪ We have put together a few of the most popular itineraries to help make your choice that little bit easier.
a bit
▪ 'Are you coming?' 'Yes, in a bit.'
▪ After a bit, Bill had started to tire of her company.
▪ Do you mind looking after the kids for a bit while I go out?
▪ Enrollment is down a bit from last year.
▪ I'm feeling a bit better
▪ I sat down, and after a bit, the phone rang.
▪ I think I'll lie down for a bit.
▪ I waited, and a bit later the phone went again -- it was Bill.
▪ Oh, wait a bit, can't you?
▪ Prices have dropped a bit in the last few days.
▪ Wait a bit, I've nearly finished.
a bit
a bit
a bit of a lad
a bit of a sth
▪ Got a bit of tidying Up to do.
▪ Her desired outcome was a bit of money to help with major structural repairs.
▪ People like to see a bit of bellowing in a king.
▪ Saare remembers one student who did not do well academically and was a bit of a troublemaker.
▪ That would be a bit of a lie.
▪ Warren is from an upper middleclass Connecticut family; he's a bit of a snob.
▪ What is needed, perhaps, is a bit of disgraceful degradation of the sort that nobody can ignore.
a bit of how's your father
a bit of hush
a bit of rough
▪ At the moment it looks more like a bit of rough pasture ... full of dandelions and clover patches.
a bit of rough
▪ At the moment it looks more like a bit of rough pasture ... full of dandelions and clover patches.
a bit of skirt
a bit of stuff/fluff/skirt
a fair size/amount/number/bit/distance etc
▪ But a fair number of them went on to greater things.
▪ It prefers a fair amount of nutritious detritus.
▪ Scientists must proceed cautiously, moving ahead only with the assent of a fair number of their colleagues.
▪ Thanks to the inherently leaky nature of the water industry, there is already a fair amount of information to go on.
▪ That involved a fair amount of travel.
▪ There was a fair amount going on.
▪ They'd have a fair bit of tidying up to do before they left.
▪ You may also be involved in a fair amount of travel.
a little bit
▪ He was even maybe a little bit relieved, because immediately it was clear that Ernie was what she needed.
▪ I prefer to talk a little bit.
▪ I really just did it for a little bit, and then gave it up.
▪ There was, I suspect, a little bit of Otago isolationism involved.
a wee bit
▪ Don't you think her behavior is just a wee bit bizarre?
▪ As for the holiday, I agree with you, it sounds a wee bit unlikely.
▪ He is hapless, passive and maybe just a wee bit smug.
▪ It is a wee bit disconcerting when you can hear yourself think in a pub these days.
▪ Monica is a wee bit overweight.
▪ Reason I ask, Mr Rasmussen says you seemed a wee bit tipsy.
▪ There is no label on the bottle, it tastes a wee bit vinegary.
▪ We have been lacking a wee bit of professionalism recently.
▪ You might be just a wee bit too clever for your own good now.
a/one bit at a time
▪ The text can be put on an overhead and revealed a bit at a time.
be a bit much
▪ But maybe total understanding of everything is a bit much to ask of a tiny human mind.
▪ But seeing the little fellow lying there in sauce, sauteed, was a bit much.
▪ But to rise from the grave was a bit much even for Nixon.
be a bit much/be too much
be a bit of all right
bit by bit
▪ Bit by bit, our apartment started to look like a home.
▪ But then, slowly, bit by bit, year by year, I began to change my mind.
▪ In therapy, we chip away at this, bit by bit.
▪ Make a small cut and then try to pull the gall to pieces bit by bit.
▪ So bit by bit you're being written into the programme and fed into the computer.
▪ The experiment faltered bit by bit.
▪ The information only came out bit by bit since she's still not easy in her mind about talking to us.
▪ Thus, bit by bit, the child learns to string together more complicated sequences.
▪ You can shop meal by meal, or bit by bit.
bit on the side
▪ Her husband's reaction to Lowell's bit on the side had been subdued.
bite your tongue
▪ Always ready to knock on wood, throw salt over my shoulder, bite my tongue, cross my fingers.
▪ But they want a pink one, so Ralph takes out a pink one, bites his tongue.
▪ He's not and would be wise to bite his tongue.
▪ It's all very well telling some one to bite their tongue and not fight back.
▪ Polly battled on, practically biting her tongue in half.
▪ Tell them to bite their tongues.
▪ Whatever the reason, Dauntless bit his tongue and resolved to put up with Cleo Sinister.
bite/snap sb's head off
▪ A geek is a carnival performer who bites the heads off live chickens and snakes.
▪ He had no right to bite the head off one of his staunchest friends.
▪ I could have bitten her head off.
▪ Just to bite their heads off.
▪ Not two minutes in his company and she was biting his head off.
▪ The gusts are becoming malevolent, snapping the heads off the waves like daisies.
▪ This Katherine bites the heads off rag-dolls and threatens her sister Bianca with a pair of pinking shears.
▪ You could trust him not to take the mickey, or to turn round and bite your head off.
do your bit
▪ I've done my bit - now it's up to you.
▪ We wanted to do our bit for the boys fighting in the war.
▪ Don't you want to do your bit towards stamping it out?
▪ Eva and several of the cadets from overseas were put in the West End brigade to do their bit.
▪ Help is desperately needed - and rugby friends can do their bit.
▪ I hope that you can all do your bit.
▪ Let Africanized bees do their bit to breed better beekeepers in this country, in other words.
▪ Nature did its bit as well.
▪ Now I am not unpatriotic, and I want to do my bit in this great movement.
▪ Stonehenge has gone, so I reckon I can do me bit of growing up at Skipton Hall.
every bit as good/important etc
▪ Barbara was every bit as good as she sounded.
▪ Here, the Fund runs many family projects that are less well-known but doing work that is every bit as important.
▪ If you looked through a microscope you could see that they had cheekbones every bit as good as Hope Steadman's.
▪ In terms of predicting and controlling the social environment, high technology can quite clearly be every bit as important as brute force.
▪ It is for this reason that good balanced design is every bit as important as meticulous craftsmanship.
▪ It takes no more than five minutes and tastes every bit as good at the oven-baked variety.
▪ The explanation is every bit as important as the numbers!
every bit as important/bad/good etc
▪ Barbara was every bit as good as she sounded.
▪ Here, the Fund runs many family projects that are less well-known but doing work that is every bit as important.
▪ It is for this reason that good balanced design is every bit as important as meticulous craftsmanship.
▪ It takes no more than five minutes and tastes every bit as good at the oven-baked variety.
▪ The explanation is every bit as important as the numbers!
▪ The traffic was every bit as bad as had been predicted.
▪ Things every bit as bad happen there, too.
▪ To her horror it was every bit as bad as she'd feared, and possibly even a tiny bit worse.
get the bit between your teeth
it's (a little/bit) late in the day (to do sth)
not a bit/not one bit
not make a blind bit of difference
not take/pay a blind bit of notice
▪ For six years, the Government have not taken a blind bit of notice of the Audit Commission's report.
not the least/not in the least/not the least bit
once bitten, twice shy
quite a bit
▪ He owes me quite a bit of money.
▪ Jim has improved quite a bit since he came home from the hospital.
▪ She's quite a bit shorter than I remembered.
▪ She said she learned quite a bit.
▪ The estimates were a fair bit higher than what the final figure was.
▪ We've had quite a bit of snow this year so far.
▪ Alongside me was Sam Ratcliffe who, at the tender age of sixteen, had already had quite a bit of publicity.
▪ But it's already created quite a bit of controversy.
▪ It gives me hours of pleasurable reading and quite a bit of envious longing for things I can not afford.
▪ My grandson was over today and they played together quite a bit.
▪ That had generated quite a bit of business.
▪ The most noticeable change was in my brother, who had grown quite a bit and was now a third-grader.
▪ There's quite a bit of noise coming from the kitchens.
▪ There was quite a bit of war in the delta, so, some-times, sure.
quite a lot/bit/few
▪ A better day today, Miss Lavant wrote in her diary, quite a bit of sunshine.
▪ By no means, Watson; even now quite a few scientists continue to doubt.
▪ I lived quite a lot of my early childhood at the Thompsons' house behind a shop on Harehills Parade.
▪ Obviously, you have to wear quite a lot of protective clothing to minimise the risk of getting injured.
▪ Over 296 pages, Fallows cites quite a few.
▪ The man looks prosperous, like quite a few men.
▪ There's quite a bit of noise coming from the kitchens.
▪ There has been quite a lot of talk recently about adding enzymes to help the carp digest our sophisticated carp baits.
sb's bark is worse than their bite
take a bit of doing/explaining etc
▪ It took a bit of doing - for instance, the disposal site had to check out 100 percent.
▪ It took a bit of explaining.
▪ That's going to take a bit of explaining.
the hair of the dog (that bit you)
with (any) luck/with a bit of luck
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Barry bit the corner of the packet to open it.
▪ Don't worry about the dog - he won't bite.
▪ Even a friendly dog will bite if it's scared.
▪ I sometimes bite my fingernails when I'm nervous.
▪ On just the second day of the trip, I was bitten on the leg by a snake.
▪ She fought off her attacker, scratching and biting him.
▪ She was bitten by a rattlesnake.
▪ Taryn, stop biting your fingernails!
▪ The company withdraws its new products quickly if consumers fail to bite.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A shell tore through his back, shattering his shoulder and collarbone and biting into his spine.
▪ Closed basins as deep as 135 feet were bitten out of the underlying basalt.
▪ Cook noodles in medium pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite.
▪ It chews and bites the venom into its victims, generally small mammals and birds.
▪ Not two minutes in his company and she was biting his head off.
▪ The workers were not scratched or bitten and have not been placed under quarantine.
▪ This Katherine bites the heads off rag-dolls and threatens her sister Bianca with a pair of pinking shears.
▪ When he got to his feet again McAteer grabbed him and bit half his ear off.
II.nounCOLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
big
▪ I took a big bite, put it back on the table and left it to rot throughout the night.
▪ But coyotes are taking the biggest bite out of sheep farming in Northern California.
▪ Voice over Unlike Jackie, Bouncer's bark was probably bigger than his bite.
▪ Buying school supplies, she said, took a big bite out of her allowance.
▪ Profits of the Bisto-to-Mr-Kipling-cakes giant have nose-dived from £150m to just over £92m with big bites taken out of both bread and cakes.
▪ Then he takes a big bite of it.
▪ If that is the case you need to take bigger bites or steps.
■ NOUN
bug
▪ They sleep six to a bed and wake up to the fiery sting of bug bites.
mark
▪ But small or not, it appears to have left a nasty bite mark on her arm.
▪ I examined closely where the squirrel had bitten the branches, and found the bite marks in the thin bark.
▪ Broadly speaking, children under four are not sensitised and show no bite mark.
▪ I found these seemingly senseless bite marks by the hundreds.
▪ On 11 May 1991 he was taken to hospital suffering from 18 bruises and a bite mark.
▪ He left a dozen ugly bite marks on her back.
mosquito
▪ She found a spot on Nowak's calf that was red and swollen like a severe mosquito bite.
▪ The mosquito bite on his leg had swollen into a scarlet hillock.
snake
▪ Human deaths from snake bites are caused mainly by accident.
▪ In his magazine, he published formulas for animal manures and prescriptions for the cure of snake bites and malaria.
▪ Opposite A prairie rattler. Snake bites cause the death of over 100,000 people every year.
▪ I sent him back to the Patel farm with his snake bite and his elaborate complaints.
■ VERB
take
▪ This oarsman says it took a bite out of his blade.
▪ Already emaciated, he would take only occasional bites of food and seemed to shake violently when he drank fluids.
▪ If there was no numbing and if the item was reasonably palatable, then they'd take another small bite and swallow.
▪ They ate at whim, taking a bite here, a bite there.
▪ I took a bite out of the sandwich.
▪ But coyotes are taking the biggest bite out of sheep farming in Northern California.
▪ You know, the one that takes a healthy bite from your paycheck day after day, year after year?
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
(a bit of) a mouthful
(it's) a bit thick
(just) that little bit better/easier etc
▪ We have put together a few of the most popular itineraries to help make your choice that little bit easier.
a bit
▪ 'Are you coming?' 'Yes, in a bit.'
▪ After a bit, Bill had started to tire of her company.
▪ Do you mind looking after the kids for a bit while I go out?
▪ Enrollment is down a bit from last year.
▪ I'm feeling a bit better
▪ I sat down, and after a bit, the phone rang.
▪ I think I'll lie down for a bit.
▪ I waited, and a bit later the phone went again -- it was Bill.
▪ Oh, wait a bit, can't you?
▪ Prices have dropped a bit in the last few days.
▪ Wait a bit, I've nearly finished.
a bit
a bit
a bit of a lad
a bit of a sth
▪ Got a bit of tidying Up to do.
▪ Her desired outcome was a bit of money to help with major structural repairs.
▪ People like to see a bit of bellowing in a king.
▪ Saare remembers one student who did not do well academically and was a bit of a troublemaker.
▪ That would be a bit of a lie.
▪ Warren is from an upper middleclass Connecticut family; he's a bit of a snob.
▪ What is needed, perhaps, is a bit of disgraceful degradation of the sort that nobody can ignore.
a bit of how's your father
a bit of hush
a bit of rough
▪ At the moment it looks more like a bit of rough pasture ... full of dandelions and clover patches.
a bit of rough
▪ At the moment it looks more like a bit of rough pasture ... full of dandelions and clover patches.
a bit of skirt
a bit of stuff/fluff/skirt
a fair size/amount/number/bit/distance etc
▪ But a fair number of them went on to greater things.
▪ It prefers a fair amount of nutritious detritus.
▪ Scientists must proceed cautiously, moving ahead only with the assent of a fair number of their colleagues.
▪ Thanks to the inherently leaky nature of the water industry, there is already a fair amount of information to go on.
▪ That involved a fair amount of travel.
▪ There was a fair amount going on.
▪ They'd have a fair bit of tidying up to do before they left.
▪ You may also be involved in a fair amount of travel.
a little bit
▪ He was even maybe a little bit relieved, because immediately it was clear that Ernie was what she needed.
▪ I prefer to talk a little bit.
▪ I really just did it for a little bit, and then gave it up.
▪ There was, I suspect, a little bit of Otago isolationism involved.
a wee bit
▪ Don't you think her behavior is just a wee bit bizarre?
▪ As for the holiday, I agree with you, it sounds a wee bit unlikely.
▪ He is hapless, passive and maybe just a wee bit smug.
▪ It is a wee bit disconcerting when you can hear yourself think in a pub these days.
▪ Monica is a wee bit overweight.
▪ Reason I ask, Mr Rasmussen says you seemed a wee bit tipsy.
▪ There is no label on the bottle, it tastes a wee bit vinegary.
▪ We have been lacking a wee bit of professionalism recently.
▪ You might be just a wee bit too clever for your own good now.
a/one bit at a time
▪ The text can be put on an overhead and revealed a bit at a time.
be a bit much
▪ But maybe total understanding of everything is a bit much to ask of a tiny human mind.
▪ But seeing the little fellow lying there in sauce, sauteed, was a bit much.
▪ But to rise from the grave was a bit much even for Nixon.
be a bit much/be too much
be a bit of all right
be champing at the bit
▪ David is champing at the bit.
▪ Within three months Eva was champing at the bit.
bit by bit
▪ Bit by bit, our apartment started to look like a home.
▪ But then, slowly, bit by bit, year by year, I began to change my mind.
▪ In therapy, we chip away at this, bit by bit.
▪ Make a small cut and then try to pull the gall to pieces bit by bit.
▪ So bit by bit you're being written into the programme and fed into the computer.
▪ The experiment faltered bit by bit.
▪ The information only came out bit by bit since she's still not easy in her mind about talking to us.
▪ Thus, bit by bit, the child learns to string together more complicated sequences.
▪ You can shop meal by meal, or bit by bit.
bit on the side
▪ Her husband's reaction to Lowell's bit on the side had been subdued.
bite your tongue
▪ Always ready to knock on wood, throw salt over my shoulder, bite my tongue, cross my fingers.
▪ But they want a pink one, so Ralph takes out a pink one, bites his tongue.
▪ He's not and would be wise to bite his tongue.
▪ It's all very well telling some one to bite their tongue and not fight back.
▪ Polly battled on, practically biting her tongue in half.
▪ Tell them to bite their tongues.
▪ Whatever the reason, Dauntless bit his tongue and resolved to put up with Cleo Sinister.
bite/snap sb's head off
▪ A geek is a carnival performer who bites the heads off live chickens and snakes.
▪ He had no right to bite the head off one of his staunchest friends.
▪ I could have bitten her head off.
▪ Just to bite their heads off.
▪ Not two minutes in his company and she was biting his head off.
▪ The gusts are becoming malevolent, snapping the heads off the waves like daisies.
▪ This Katherine bites the heads off rag-dolls and threatens her sister Bianca with a pair of pinking shears.
▪ You could trust him not to take the mickey, or to turn round and bite your head off.
do your bit
▪ I've done my bit - now it's up to you.
▪ We wanted to do our bit for the boys fighting in the war.
▪ Don't you want to do your bit towards stamping it out?
▪ Eva and several of the cadets from overseas were put in the West End brigade to do their bit.
▪ Help is desperately needed - and rugby friends can do their bit.
▪ I hope that you can all do your bit.
▪ Let Africanized bees do their bit to breed better beekeepers in this country, in other words.
▪ Nature did its bit as well.
▪ Now I am not unpatriotic, and I want to do my bit in this great movement.
▪ Stonehenge has gone, so I reckon I can do me bit of growing up at Skipton Hall.
every bit as good/important etc
▪ Barbara was every bit as good as she sounded.
▪ Here, the Fund runs many family projects that are less well-known but doing work that is every bit as important.
▪ If you looked through a microscope you could see that they had cheekbones every bit as good as Hope Steadman's.
▪ In terms of predicting and controlling the social environment, high technology can quite clearly be every bit as important as brute force.
▪ It is for this reason that good balanced design is every bit as important as meticulous craftsmanship.
▪ It takes no more than five minutes and tastes every bit as good at the oven-baked variety.
▪ The explanation is every bit as important as the numbers!
every bit as important/bad/good etc
▪ Barbara was every bit as good as she sounded.
▪ Here, the Fund runs many family projects that are less well-known but doing work that is every bit as important.
▪ It is for this reason that good balanced design is every bit as important as meticulous craftsmanship.
▪ It takes no more than five minutes and tastes every bit as good at the oven-baked variety.
▪ The explanation is every bit as important as the numbers!
▪ The traffic was every bit as bad as had been predicted.
▪ Things every bit as bad happen there, too.
▪ To her horror it was every bit as bad as she'd feared, and possibly even a tiny bit worse.
get the bit between your teeth
it's (a little/bit) late in the day (to do sth)
not a bit/not one bit
not make a blind bit of difference
not take/pay a blind bit of notice
▪ For six years, the Government have not taken a blind bit of notice of the Audit Commission's report.
not the least/not in the least/not the least bit
once bitten, twice shy
quite a bit
▪ He owes me quite a bit of money.
▪ Jim has improved quite a bit since he came home from the hospital.
▪ She's quite a bit shorter than I remembered.
▪ She said she learned quite a bit.
▪ The estimates were a fair bit higher than what the final figure was.
▪ We've had quite a bit of snow this year so far.
▪ Alongside me was Sam Ratcliffe who, at the tender age of sixteen, had already had quite a bit of publicity.
▪ But it's already created quite a bit of controversy.
▪ It gives me hours of pleasurable reading and quite a bit of envious longing for things I can not afford.
▪ My grandson was over today and they played together quite a bit.
▪ That had generated quite a bit of business.
▪ The most noticeable change was in my brother, who had grown quite a bit and was now a third-grader.
▪ There's quite a bit of noise coming from the kitchens.
▪ There was quite a bit of war in the delta, so, some-times, sure.
quite a lot/bit/few
▪ A better day today, Miss Lavant wrote in her diary, quite a bit of sunshine.
▪ By no means, Watson; even now quite a few scientists continue to doubt.
▪ I lived quite a lot of my early childhood at the Thompsons' house behind a shop on Harehills Parade.
▪ Obviously, you have to wear quite a lot of protective clothing to minimise the risk of getting injured.
▪ Over 296 pages, Fallows cites quite a few.
▪ The man looks prosperous, like quite a few men.
▪ There's quite a bit of noise coming from the kitchens.
▪ There has been quite a lot of talk recently about adding enzymes to help the carp digest our sophisticated carp baits.
sb's bark is worse than their bite
take a bit of doing/explaining etc
▪ It took a bit of doing - for instance, the disposal site had to check out 100 percent.
▪ It took a bit of explaining.
▪ That's going to take a bit of explaining.
the hair of the dog (that bit you)
with (any) luck/with a bit of luck
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ a protest song with bite and wit
▪ After two bites I realised the apple was rotten.
▪ Animal bites should be treated immediately.
▪ Sometimes I sit for hours and never get a bite.
▪ The barbecue sauce lacked heat and bite.
▪ The state will be taking a bite out of money earned from local traffic tickets
▪ There's just time for a quick bite to eat before the film begins.
▪ We'll have a bite then go into town.
▪ We woke up to find ourselves covered in mosquito bites.
▪ You can get Lyme disease from a tick bite.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Despite appearances, its bark is definitely worse than its bite.
▪ He now takes bites from his lunch between smokes.
▪ His bee bite, he noticed, was finally gone.
▪ One bite of coffee cake that tasted like a syrupy old sponge and they knew better the next time.
▪ Press harder and it becomes obvious that front-end bite and turn-in are actually very good.
▪ Profits of the Bisto-to-Mr-Kipling-cakes giant have nose-dived from £150m to just over £92m with big bites taken out of both bread and cakes.
▪ Would he care to stay on for a bite to eat?