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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
compose
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
compose a poemformal (= write a poem)
▪ He composed a poem in his head.
write/compose a song
▪ Do they write their own songs?
write/compose a tune
▪ They wrote many great tunes together in the 80s.
write/compose music
▪ He composed the music for the 'Lord of the Rings' films.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
entirely
▪ The second issue is that, if a household is composed entirely of students, it should be exempt.
▪ One is composed entirely of female whales who, when full grown, are one-third the bulk of an average male.
▪ The exhibition is lavishly illustrated with colour photographs and features a moss garden composed entirely of local Ulster mosses.
▪ The Universe is composed entirely of waves.
▪ He made policy with the aid of an Executive Council which was composed entirely of senior officials.
▪ Federal Judge Kimba Wood disregarded an appeal by Milken's lawyer for a sentence composed entirely of community service.
largely
▪ These are composed largely of local councillors indirectly appointed by their local authority but not directly elected to these bodies.
▪ The region was bitter cold in winter and was composed largely of woodland tracts veined heavily with water.
▪ The tax base in the suburbs is largely composed of single-family residences.
▪ Morris resolved to complain to the board, which was composed largely of retired seamen.
▪ This group, so called because of the custom among its members of grease-painting their faces, was composed largely of non-commissioned officers.
mainly
▪ Kaolinite clays are mainly composed of the clay mineral kaolin.
▪ The money economy shook the foundations of a society composed mainly of lords and peasants.
▪ The Lizard complex is composed mainly of serpentinite with gabbro and metamorphosed basic rocks.
▪ The Stinkdolomit is composed mainly of dark, thinly bedded and dolomitised carbonate mudstones.
▪ All three are mainly composed of silica, but analysis reveals significant differences in other components.
▪ On March 6 Anand appointed an interim Cabinet composed mainly of businessmen and technocrats.
▪ The Island is composed mainly of red sandstone.
mostly
▪ The group is composed mostly of university professors, though of every persuasion from Keynesian to libertarian to Marxist.
▪ That meant learning their language, composed mostly of guttural noises, facial expressions, arm movements and gestures.
■ NOUN
church
▪ Goudimel seems to have composed no more Latin church music after he embraced Protestantism c. 1560.
▪ The Orthodox Church is composed of 23 self-governing churches that emerged from the Byzantine Empire.
face
▪ He held out his hand to his junior master and composed his face into a solemn expression of trust.
▪ I compose my face into a smile.
▪ They had composed their faces, but their eyes sparkled and their mouths yearned to smile.
▪ It is a face that masks emotion rather than displays it, a composed face, insular, a little haughty.
group
▪ The groups are usually composed of genetic kin, but not always.
▪ The band is certainly the oddity: a teenybop group composed of teenyboppers.
▪ The group is composed mostly of university professors, though of every persuasion from Keynesian to libertarian to Marxist.
▪ Midway through the summer Frye instructed the students to divide themselves into groups to plan and compose a narrative.
letter
▪ The trainee is expected to compose a letter and a memo from short notes provided.
▪ Tom began to compose his next letter to them.
▪ She began to compose a letter in her head, then rejected the idea.
▪ Me and my sore back composed a letter to Martina.
▪ Then he turned over the piece of paper and composed a letter to his wife, Olga.
▪ He'd have been better off getting them to help him compose a Dear Marje letter.
▪ Tom agreed but trying to compose the letter brought on one of his headaches.
▪ We now turn to the important business of composing appropriate letters.
member
▪ Our executive committee is composed of voluntary members and a part-time national officer.
▪ The Safety Board is composed of five members nominated for five-year terms by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
▪ The committee is composed of eight members representing oil, sewage, dredging, business and other dischargers.
music
▪ Pictures I wanted to paint, books I wanted to write, music I wanted to compose.
▪ A lot of harsh, dissonant music has been composed in the last 40 years.
poem
▪ And if you intend to compose your own poems, limericks or verses, a songwriter's rhyming dictionary would be invaluable.
▪ Presumably Mira is composing a poem, counting the syllables as she walks.
▪ In return he composed short poems of thanks.
▪ With Donald Crubach's help, he played the harp and sang, and started again to compose songs and poems.
▪ His movements were slow, his gaze abstracted, as if he were composing a poem in his head.
representative
▪ This informal guidance is given by the Defence, Press and Broadcasting Committee which is composed of representatives of government and media.
▪ It will meet in Vienna and be composed of the permanent representatives of the participating States. 19.
▪ HEPnet is managed by the HEPnet Technical Committee, which is composed of representatives from each participating country.
song
▪ They compose the songs on the spot.
▪ With Donald Crubach's help, he played the harp and sang, and started again to compose songs and poems.
speech
▪ Alternatively pick up a pen and a piece of paper and compose your own speech immediately after reading all these for inspiration.
▪ William Faulkner composed his Nobel Prize speech there.
▪ Words are composed by some speech carpenters and put in the box.
word
▪ On the whole, the Commission urges that new hymn tunes should be composed for new words, and viceversa.
■ VERB
begin
▪ She began to compose a letter in her head, then rejected the idea.
▪ Tom began to compose his next letter to them.
▪ In 1969 he began composing and writing music for his own occasional groups.
▪ Maggie began in a very composed manner.
▪ He also encouraged his wife, Carla Bley, to begin composing.
▪ From the moment she began composing in the early 1960s, Bley was an original with an extraordinary melodic flair.
seem
▪ The texts seem to have been composed as a result of work in and on language.
▪ For a man whose lover had been brutally murdered the night before he seemed cheerful and composed.
▪ Goudimel seems to have composed no more Latin church music after he embraced Protestantism c. 1560.
try
▪ I tried to compose my features into a combination of nonchalance and justification.
▪ I tried to sound composed, not to show courage but because I suddenly realized it was simply the only alternative.
▪ She raised a hand and fingered her heavy silver earrings, trying to compose herself.
▪ Tom agreed but trying to compose the letter brought on one of his headaches.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ a song composed by Schubert
▪ Dario composes for a living.
▪ Glass composed the music for Cocteau's movie.
▪ I needed a quiet place to compose my thoughts.
▪ Mozart composed his first symphony when he was still a child.
▪ Olsen knows how to compose a visually interesting scene, but the script lets him down.
▪ Schumann was better at composing music than playing it.
▪ The children will now play some pieces that they composed themselves.
▪ The menu includes more than 60 small dishes from which you can compose a meal.
▪ The music was composed and performed by Keith Jarrett.
▪ These love poems are believed to have been composed by a poet at the court of King Henry II.
▪ Tom tried to compose a letter, but he couldn't concentrate.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A young moon shining on the cascading waters made them appear to be composed of drifting snow.
▪ He proposed a smaller army to be composed of better-trained and better-equipped soldiers.
▪ Language is richly composed of many references which set up a commonality of theme between different parts of text or speech.
▪ Microsoft Mail allows users to read, compose, forward or reply to electronic mail messages.
▪ The region was bitter cold in winter and was composed largely of woodland tracts veined heavily with water.
▪ The second section is the Review of Literature, and is composed of three major subheadings.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Compose

Compose \Com*pose"\, v. i. To come to terms. [Obs.]
--Shak.

Compose

Compose \Com*pose"\ (k[o^]m*p[=o]z"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Composed; p. pr. & vb. n. Composing.] [F. composer; com- + poser to place. The sense is that of L. componere, but the origin is different. See Pose, v. t.]

  1. To form by putting together two or more things or parts; to put together; to make up; to fashion.

    Zeal ought to be composed of the highest degrees of all pious affection.
    --Bp. Sprat.

  2. To form the substance of, or part of the substance of; to constitute.

    Their borrowed gold composed The calf in Oreb.
    --Milton.

    A few useful things . . . compose their intellectual possessions.
    --I. Watts.

  3. To construct by mental labor; to design and execute, or put together, in a manner involving the adaptation of forms of expression to ideas, or to the laws of harmony or proportion; as, to compose a sentence, a sermon, a symphony, or a picture.

    Let me compose Something in verse as well as prose.
    --Pope.

    The genius that composed such works as the ``Standard'' and ``Last Supper''.
    --B. R. Haydon.

  4. To dispose in proper form; to reduce to order; to put in proper state or condition; to adjust; to regulate.

    In a peaceful grave my corpse compose.
    --Dryden.

    How in safety best we may Compose our present evils.
    --Milton.

  5. To free from agitation or disturbance; to tranquilize; to soothe; to calm; to quiet.

    Compose thy mind; Nor frauds are here contrived, nor force designed.
    --Dryden.

  6. (Print.) To arrange (types) in a composing stick in order for printing; to set (type).

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
compose

c.1400, compousen, from Old French composer "put together, arrange, write" a work (12c.), from com- "with" (see com-) + poser "to place," from Late Latin pausare "to cease, lay down" (see pause (n.)). Meaning influenced in Old French by componere (see composite; also see pose (v.)). Musical sense is from 1590s. Related: Composed; composing.

Wiktionary
compose

vb. 1 (context transitive English) To make something by merging parts. (from later 15th c.) 2 (context transitive English) To make up the whole; to constitute. 3 (context transitive nonstandard English) To comprise. 4 (context transitive or intransitive English) To construct by mental labor; to think up; particularly, to produce or create a literary or musical work. 5 (context sometimes reflexive English) To calm; to free from agitation. 6 To arrange the elements of a photograph or other picture. 7 To settle (an argument, dispute etc.); to come to a settlement. 8 To arrange in proper form; to reduce to order; to put in proper state or condition. 9 (context printing dated English) To arrange (types) in a composing stick for printing; to typeset.

WordNet
compose
  1. v. form the substance of; "Greed and ambition composed his personality"

  2. write music; "Beethoven composed nine symphonies" [syn: write]

  3. produce a literary work; "She composed a poem"; "He wrote four novels" [syn: write, pen, indite]

  4. put together out of existing material; "compile a list" [syn: compile]

  5. calm (someone, especially oneself); make quiet; "She had to compose herself before she could reply to this terrible insult"

  6. draw up the plans or basic details for; "frame a policy" [syn: frame, draw up]

Wikipedia

Usage examples of "compose".

In composing the picture, Trumbull had placed Adams at the exact center foreground, as if to leave no doubt about his importance.

It was his creative work that he wished most to be remembered for: Here Was Buried THOMAS JEFFERSON Author of the Declaration of American Independence, Of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, And Father of the University of Virginia Adams had, however, composed an inscription to be carved into the sarcophagus lid of Henry Adams, the first Adams to arrive in Massachusetts, in 1638.

While the man was preparing his pens and ink and setting a disc of red wax to soften on a sun-warmed stone, the Aedile composed in his head the letter he needed to write.

The main body of ancient tradition here agrees with the evidence of language: the poems are composed in the Ionic dialect, with an admixture of Aeolic forms.

On the news that the Porpoise fleet, composed of six hundred great ships, was in sight of Alca, the bishop ordered a solemn procession.

Raised by her parents from Mahon on a small farm in the Sahel, she was very young when she married a slender and delicate man, also of Mahon origin, whose brothers had already settled in Algeria by 1848, after the tragic death of the paternal grandfather, a sometime poet who composed his verses mounted on a donkey and riding around the island between stone walls that bordered vegetable gardens.

All we need is a team composed of specialist Alpinists, Commandos, mountaineers and safe-breakers and what do we have?

Here, again, is another resemblance to the conductor, who can impose his own will on the orchestra, altho he may not be able to play one of the instruments in it, and altho he may be quite incapable of composing.

He also sang as basso of the Temple Emanuel from 1874 to 1888, thirteen consecutive years, and was the basso profundo of that celebrated male quartette, The Amphions, composed of Joseph Maguire, H.

It was composed, after a careful consideration and comparison of the principal Anglican divines of the seventeenth century.

He supposed that it might very well be composed of the same sort of material used to make the ants themselves.

The nations which composed the formidable conspiracy against Rome were eight in number--the Marsians, Pelignians, Marrucinians, Vestinians, Picentines, Samnites, Apulians, and Lucanians.

Don Quixote of La Mancha, composed not by Cide Hamete, its first author, but by an Aragonese who is, he says, a native of Tordesillas.

It was composed in Aramaic two thousand years ago by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.

For the Word in its bosom is spiritual, containing arcana of divine wisdom, and in order to contain them has been composed throughout in correspondences and representations.