noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a food/medicine/clothes cupboardBritish English
▪ The medicine cupboard's in the bathroom.
a laundry/clothes basket (=for dirty clothes)
▪ Will you please put your socks in the laundry basket?
baby clothes/food
casual clothes
▪ Jean felt more comfortable in casual clothes.
clean clothes
▪ He had a shower and changed into clean clothes.
clothes basket
clothes brush
clothes hanger
clothes horse
clothes peg
comfortable clothes/shoes/boots etc
▪ You’ll need comfortable shoes for walking around the city.
designer clothes/jeans/suits etc
dirty clothes/washing/laundry
▪ She circled the bedroom, picking up dirty clothes.
dress/clothes sense (=an ability to choose clothes well)
▪ Her dress sense was faultless.
dry clothes
▪ I had no dry clothes to change into.
food/clothes/meat etc ration
▪ the weekly meat ration
▪ a coal ration of 4 kg a month
fuel/clothes/food etc rationing
▪ News of bread rationing created panic buying.
street clothes (=ordinary clothes, not a special uniform or costume)
▪ She changed into her street clothes and left the theatre.
swaddling clothes
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
civilian
▪ The constable was on leave and wearing civilian clothes.
▪ After seizing power, the soldiers changed into civilian clothes and became presidents.
▪ They found two soldiers in civilian clothes in it and a Thompson sub-machine gun.
▪ People were running around in civilian clothes, cooking steaks over barbecues.
▪ He had dressed that morning in his civilian clothes, reckoning that military uniform was unsuitable for the work of the day.
▪ Elvis Grbac was in civilian clothes.
▪ Men in civilian clothes moved up and down the steps leading into the narrow three-storey building.
▪ These articles will be her wardrobe until Thanksgiving, when she gets to go home and wear civilian clothes.
clean
▪ Then I took my bag into a loo and took everything off and changed into clean clothes.
▪ Ralph dressed carefully for the visit, in clean clothes.
▪ The first thing though was to get Nigel into some clean, dry clothes.
▪ I went home and showered and shaved and put on clean clothes.
▪ She pulled on one of the towelling robes and wandered back into the bedroom, selecting clean clothes.
▪ It is a sign that I am good. 60. Clean clothes made us respectable. 61.
▪ Besides, Ma would be glad of the clean clothes.
▪ Kat and I searched our packs for our cleanest clothes.
expensive
▪ They all wore the most expensive clothes and had beautiful, long, curly hair.
▪ They decided not to buy expensive clothes for the wedding.
▪ And she is power dressing, wearing beautifully-cut, expensive clothes.
▪ With his expensive clothes, elite education, and distinguished demeanor, he was different from the rustic and plain Avon folk.
▪ Everybody was wearing very expensive, fashionable clothes too!
▪ A tall man of about sixty, he was dressed in expensive country clothes.
▪ When he did appear, just before opening night he looked an impressive figure in his expensive clothes.
good
▪ He was in his good clothes.
▪ Alistair was just getting off the phone when I came in to change out of my good clothes.
▪ The date for the nearly new sale has been fixed as Saturday March 14 and good quality clothes are needed.
▪ The princess arrayed herself in her best clothes and jewels.
▪ He considered her good but unremarkable clothes, and wondered what she did for laughs.
▪ I knew that poor people often save their best clothes, sometimes their only respectable apparel, for churchgoing.
▪ They came in their best clothes as if it were a Sunday from the days before the church was closed.
new
▪ It felt, despite the new clothes, that she hadn't quite made up her mind.
▪ Zampano is trying on his new clothes, absurdly self-involved in his new-found pinstriped elegance.
▪ Well, of course, she could get her hair cut and buy new clothes.
▪ Anyway, Ranieri never really wore his new clothes.
▪ No new clothes, no holidays, no bothering doctors whatever the pain.
▪ The new clothes became a clever foil for his old self.
▪ He had refused to buy any new clothes for the wedding but the brown suit had been brushed and pressed.
▪ Daniel removes Mordecai to rooms in Chelsea, dresses him in new clothes, and brings Mirah to her brother.
old
▪ Get the old clothes. 9.
▪ They began with nothing but the shoes they wore, the old clothes on their backs...
▪ All were in old, tattered clothes, some in outright rags; many were barefoot and hatless.
▪ Fermoyles in old clothes and sometimes just barely enough food for the week.
▪ Wear old clothes and bring a hammer.
▪ He sent his old clothes home for his brothers.
▪ A bundle of old clothes - what would gulls want with that?
▪ William Douglas gave me some old women's clothes.
plain
▪ Behind them in a doorway is a man wearing plain clothes and dark glasses.
▪ Normal stores have security people dressed in such plain clothes you wonder how they can afford to do any shopping.
▪ In the morning, she rose early and dressed in her plainest clothes, flounces and frills had no place in business.
▪ We recruit uniformed officers into plain clothes so that people like yourself, who are being eliminated, won't feel under pressure.
▪ They were in plain clothes and, in his opinion, drunk, arrogant and overpowering.
▪ Female speaker We've got extra foot patrols in uniform and plain clothes to prevent an attack and to pick up information.
▪ Mr Montesinos was escorted by agents in plain clothes into a helicopter shortly after arriving at Lima airport.
▪ In uniform and in plain clothes, roughly 50 were on different shifts asking each shopper for more information.
■ NOUN
shop
▪ There were several repercussions following my slight incident in the clothes shop.
▪ There's also a very good children's clothes shop nearby which deals in second-hand baby equipment.
▪ Most clothes shops sell nothing we can wear, and specialist shops are expensive and offer a very limited range of images.
▪ Businesses, including several clothes shops, a pub, and an estate agent, lay in tatters.
▪ In the clothes shops, shoppers receive £5 off per voucher.
▪ It was sub-Post Office, supermarket, hardware store, clothes shop, newsagent's and chemist's packed into one room.
▪ His clothes shop is allowed to put peepholes in the fitting-rooms; some have hidden microphones, too.
▪ Shop raid: Burglars raided a Stokesley clothes shop.
■ VERB
buy
▪ You never buy me any new clothes.
▪ They decided not to buy expensive clothes for the wedding.
▪ He had refused to buy any new clothes for the wedding but the brown suit had been brushed and pressed.
▪ And they buy food and clothes and pay rent.
▪ They buy the clothes for their designs and fetching colours.
▪ It was what happened when young people earned decent wages, and had the means to buy clothes and go to discos.
▪ After the show, there was a queue to buy the clothes and last year's total was doubled.
▪ Edna stopped buying such clothes for a while.
change
▪ I took a cold shower and changed my clothes.
▪ After seizing power, the soldiers changed into civilian clothes and became presidents.
▪ Rose had changed into the Victorian clothes in the van.
▪ In less than an hour he was changing his wet clothes.
▪ While the-shore-bound sections changed into their shore clothes, Hicks busied him-self with a scrupulous cleaning of the bakery.
▪ Diana quickly appreciated that the only thing the royal family like to change is their clothes.
▪ We rushed through quick showers and changed into wrinkled civilian clothes.
dress
▪ In the morning, she rose early and dressed in her plainest clothes, flounces and frills had no place in business.
▪ Teen-age girls cut their hair and dressed in baggy clothes to be less attractive to the mysterious killer.
▪ There were people dressed in gay bright clothes walking on the promenade.
▪ In rehabilitation they saw people dressed in street clothes instead of hospital white.
▪ To blackmail a man because he likes dressing in women's clothes.
▪ Daniel removes Mordecai to rooms in Chelsea, dresses him in new clothes, and brings Mirah to her brother.
▪ When they wake they dress in the loosest clothes, skip breakfast and head for the tennis courts.
▪ He is dressed in differ-ent clothes.
keep
▪ Dress: painting smock to keep clothes clean.
▪ Q: Do you get to keep the clothes?
▪ Otherwise, everything was checked behind the bar, with a man who kept his clothes on.
▪ Do you have any tips on how I can keep my clothes looking good?
▪ I set up a sort of base here where I can slip back and keep a change of clothes and so on.
▪ I also kept their clothes and bedding clean, combed and braided their hair, served them their meals.
pull
▪ She has pulled on her clothes.
▪ He goes to getting ready for bed, pulling off his clothes.
▪ He pulls off all his clothes and slides over towards me.
▪ They lay there watching me pull on warm clothes for the trip, making me feel uneasy and a little guilty.
▪ Some one was pulling at her clothes, a hand shook her shoulder, and then a thumb rolled back her eyelid.
▪ As soon as I arrive home at night I wash off my make-up and pull on my scruffiest clothes.
▪ He pulled on his clothes and stumbled into the kitchen.
▪ Flavia pulled on the clothes she had been about to change into and ran downstairs.
put
▪ Get the old clothes. 9. Put the clothes on the scarecrow. 10.
▪ And put on some nice clothes.
▪ After 40 days she is encouraged to put aside her black clothes, but she received positive family support.
▪ As I put on my clothes, I knew they could not keep me warm enough against the freezing weather outdoors.
▪ Pat puts his work clothes aside, so he can wash them at 60 degrees.
▪ I went home and showered and shaved and put on clean clothes.
▪ If he can not put his clothes on himself, learning to get dressed is a necessary part of his rehabilitation programme.
▪ The elves put on the clothes, and then were never seen again.
remove
▪ Already distended in his excitement he had difficulty in removing his clothes.
▪ Much later, he couldn't recall exactly when he removed his clothes or when they got into bed together.
▪ He had become uncontrollable, removed his clothes and ran down the highway.
▪ This showed a girl removing her clothes in preparation for going to bed.
▪ He told me to remove my clothes one by one.
▪ Although aware he was an android, she had thought for a few seconds before removing her clothes.
▪ You hie yourself into your room this instant, and remove those -- clothes.
sell
▪ But a shop selling only summer-weight clothes in November looked mildly ridiculous.
▪ These old shops are still in business today, selling second-hand clothes and materials.
▪ Whitaker, 38, sells clothes at a Lakeland, Fla., shopping mall.
▪ His existence had been particularly dull, holding down brief part-time work selling clothes in Manchester's underground fashion world.
▪ Such is the force of commodity culture that a tasteful logo and unconnected image can sell clothes around the world.
▪ Each company sells clothes which have a clear identity allowing the wearer to convey a particular image to the outside world.
▪ However, it looks like Boo will not be selling clothes directly.
take
▪ He dried himself, opened the door of the large mahogany wardrobe and took out his clothes.
▪ The girl, who still attends high school in Sitka, told police Meekins took off her clothes.
▪ Just that first Botticelli moment of the first time of her taking her clothes off.
▪ Lee Ann took all her clothes off and lay down to sun herself on the flying bridge.
▪ What did they take the clothes for?
▪ He would return to his apartment, take off his clothes, and sit in a hot bath.
▪ The girls took her clothes ... Anyway, I decided to go out on my own.
▪ Then, when what you re seeing looks good, take off your clothes and look some more.
tear
▪ Everything he wore had to be thick, because he tore his clothes, destroyed them.
▪ If he had tried to tear the clothes from her, she probably wouldn't - couldn't - have stopped him.
▪ She would bite herself, bite anybody, and tear her clothes off.
▪ He looked ready to tear his clothes apart.
▪ Once the soldiers pushed a woman down on the floor in front of the partition and tore at her clothes.
throw
▪ There's a robe hanging from the back of the door. Throw me your clothes.
▪ Pushed books and papers into piles, threw discarded clothes into the bedroom.
▪ Frank pulled me upright and threw my clothes at me.
▪ Jane contemplated throwing on her clothes and leaving her refuge to climb farther up the mountainside to the caves.
▪ You see kids who just throw off their clothes, they want to break down that barrier and get natural again.
▪ He threw everything out, clothes, shoes, old wellingtons, burrowing underneath all the mess like an overgrown mole.
▪ I showered and threw some clothes on, and then took off, fleeing the premises.
wash
▪ Encourage residents to wash and iron their clothes where their eyesight and co-ordination are good.
▪ When she was pregnant, she washed clothes.
▪ You were only allowed to wash your clothes once a week.
▪ Rex, unperturbed, quickly stripped off naked to wash himself and his clothes in the deluge of fresh water.
▪ He had washed his bloodstained clothes, and the next day scrubbed blood from his trainers.
▪ He would not let her wash his work clothes.
▪ Then he calmly washed his clothes and had a bath.
▪ Even in liberated Scandinavia, it is women who feed the family, wash the clothes, and care for the children.
wear
▪ I ask why she thinks it is so much better for people to wear clothes.
▪ What, they wondered, was such a darling boy doing wearing such awful clothes?
▪ The man wore fitting and casual clothes and those of Holly were thin.
▪ They wore heavy clothes which they seldom changed.
▪ I fell asleep, crouched beside the door, still wearing my clothes.
▪ Marisa left, but seemed to return when she pleased, sometimes wearing the same clothes, in different clothes other times.
▪ What I do like about her is her confidence, the way she wears outrageous clothes.
▪ Both Heracles and Achilles wear female clothes for a time.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
best dress/shoes/clothes etc
▪ Everyone was in black because their best clothes were for funerals, and everyone danced.
▪ I washed them, then dressed them in their best clothes, but never new ones.
▪ She had her best shoes on, and a new hat.
▪ She had the best dress sense of any girl in Benedict's and a passion for altering the colour of her hair.
▪ The best car, the wittiest put-down, and the best dress.
▪ The first best clothes were only for Sunday and when visitors came.
▪ The princess arrayed herself in her best clothes and jewels.
▪ They would never let you in alone, even though you are wearing your best clothes.
change of clothes/underwear etc
▪ As any woman could tell you a change of clothes or hairstyle can instantly change the way people think about you.
▪ But I decided I wanted a change of clothes in the morning and my own bed that night.
▪ Clarisa passed him over to me at the window seat so she could pull out a change of clothes.
▪ Contrite, she backed off, collecting a change of clothes from her bag.
▪ Dominic could dress quickly when a change of clothes was called for.
▪ This does not necessarily mean paying out a lot of money for several totally new changes of clothes.
▪ With a change of clothes and some food, he set off in search of fools.
in plain clothes
▪ In uniform and in plain clothes, roughly 50 were on different shifts asking each shopper for more information.
▪ Large men in plain clothes and short haircuts had wanted to know his business.
▪ Mr Montesinos was escorted by agents in plain clothes into a helicopter shortly after arriving at Lima airport.
▪ They were in plain clothes and, in his opinion, drunk, arrogant and overpowering.
spare key/battery/clothes etc
▪ Carrying spare batteries could be a cheaper option to fast charging and all chargers rely on a power point anyway.
▪ Eventually, the spare key was found and they were released from the clutches of the car.
▪ I'd got no money, no night things, no spare clothes, no bank card.
▪ It may include parts of larger support weapons such as mortars, radio equipment and spare batteries.
▪ Make sure you have a supply of spare batteries too.
▪ Remember that I had always intended to leave spare key with the Twills next door but never got round to it.
▪ Some people take a fully charged spare battery along with them just in case!
▪ Soon she took my visits for granted and I was given the spare key to let myself in the door.
used cars/clothes etc
▪ Crackdown shows one third of used cars are not safe.
▪ However, with used cars, who knows?
▪ Leased a gravel lot for $ 15 a month and sold used cars.
▪ Now the tax on importing used cars has been slashed.
▪ The family also sticks to used cars.
working clothes
▪ As he approached them, Mungo could see that they wore blue uniform trousers under their working clothes.
▪ But she had to turn up at Maggie's school in her working clothes.
▪ In fact I felt rather a lout in my working clothes among the elegant gathering.
▪ Jonadab was not to be hurried and methodically finished changing into his working clothes before putting in an appearance.
▪ Still clad in her tattered working clothes, her wellingtons pumped away assiduously to give the instrument the breath it required.
▪ They went from the workplace into the canteen, they sat and opened their lunchboxes in their working clothes.
▪ They woke on Sunday morning and people wre going to church ... they daren't be seen in their working clothes.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Dana always wears such nice clothes.
▪ I need to go buy some new clothes.
▪ It's hard to find clothes that fit me.
▪ My mother always made us wear our good clothes for travelling.
▪ Pete took his clothes off and went to bed.
▪ The temperature should be around freezing tonight - it's time to get the winter clothes out.
▪ There are lots of clothes shops on Newbury Street.
▪ You can pick up second-hand baby clothes very cheaply.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Furniture and appliances, maps and globes, paints and clothes.
▪ He hadn't wondered where her clothes were when he'd returned to Primrose Cottage at the end of that autumn term.
▪ I was given her clothes, which were too big and made the soldiers laugh.
▪ It showed a middle-aged man in the clothes of the late seventeenth-century.
▪ It was interesting to see everybody in their own clothes.
▪ Most of it was toys and clothes.
▪ The princess arrayed herself in her best clothes and jewels.
▪ We had to wash our own hair and mend our own clothes.