I.determinerCOLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a final/last attempt
▪ They made one final attempt to make their marriage work.
a lasting benefit
▪ These plans are likely to result in lasting benefit to the whole of our district.
a lasting friendship
▪ This began a lasting friendship between the two women.
a lasting impact (=one that lasts for a long time)
▪ The arrival of the railways made a lasting impact on many sectors of the economy.
a lasting impression (=one that someone remembers for a long time)
▪ Sam’s performance had clearly made a lasting impression on the audience.
a lasting influence (=continuing for a long time)
▪ His travels in Africa had a lasting influence on his work.
a lasting/permanent peace
▪ He has the chance to forge a lasting peace with the Palestinians.
an abiding/enduring/lasting memory (=that you will always have)
▪ The children's abiding memory of their father is of his patience and gentleness.
an effect lasts (=continues)
▪ The effect of the drug lasts about six hours.
come first/last etc in a race (also finish first/last etc in a race)
▪ She came third in the race.
down to...last penny
▪ She’s down to her last penny.
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.
first and last (=it was the only mountain I ever climbed)
▪ The first and last mountain I climbed was Mount Rundle .
first/last on a list
▪ Your name will be first on my list.
▪ Why am I always last on the list?
first/second/last post (=the first, second, or last collection or delivery of letters each day)
▪ The last post is at 5.30.
give...the last rites
▪ A priest came to give him the last rites.
last bastions
▪ These clubs are the last bastions of male privilege.
last call
last (for) an hour
▪ The meeting lasted almost two hours.
last forever
▪ I wanted that moment to last forever.
last Friday
▪ I had a terrible time last Friday.
last heard of (=he was in Washington the last time someone had information about him)
▪ He was last heard of in Washington .
last hurrah
▪ He’s made it clear that this Olympics, his third, will be his last hurrah.
last judgment
last lap...journey
▪ The last lap of their journey was by ship.
last Monday
▪ Kelly arrived last Monday.
last month
▪ The new restaurant opened last month.
last name
last night
▪ It rained last night.
last orders
last post
last rites
last Saturday
▪ I saw Sally last Saturday at the mall.
last Sunday
▪ It was our wedding anniversary last Sunday.
last Thursday
▪ He was arrested last Thursday.
last Tuesday
▪ It was my birthday last Tuesday.
last Wednesday
▪ They left last Wednesday.
last week
▪ Last week, my washing machine broke down.
last weekend
▪ We were in Glasgow last weekend.
last year
▪ Last year we spent a lot on the house.
last/current/coming/next fiscal year
lasting fame (=being famous for a long time)
▪ Diderot gained lasting fame as the editor of the French Encyclopaedia.
lasting happiness (=happiness that continues)
▪ Leonie had found a lasting happiness in her relationship with Jim.
lasting value (=that will be important or useful for a long time)
▪ He wanted to achieve something of lasting value.
lasting/permanent harm
▪ The injury caused him discomfort but no lasting harm.
last/next summer
▪ He visited Brittany last summer.
last...throw of the dice
▪ a last desperate throw of the dice to try and win his wife back
leave sth until the last minute/until last
▪ If you leave your preparation until the last minute, you’ll reduce your chances of passing.
▪ I left the best bit until last.
leave sth until the last minute/until last
▪ If you leave your preparation until the last minute, you’ll reduce your chances of passing.
▪ I left the best bit until last.
next/last April
▪ I’m going to Cuba next April.
next/last August
▪ I was there last August.
next/last December
▪ Last December they visited Prague.
next/last February
▪ Mum died last February.
next/last January
▪ I haven’t heard from him since last January.
next/last July
▪ Laura came over to England last July.
next/last June
▪ I finished school last June.
next/last March
▪ She started work here last March.
next/last May
▪ She started work here last May.
next/last November
▪ He started work here last November.
next/last October
▪ We moved in last October.
next/last September
▪ I haven’t heard from him since last September.
one final/last point
▪ There is one final point I would like to make.
only yesterday/last week/recently
▪ ‘When did you email her?’ ‘Only yesterday.’
permanent/lasting memorial
▪ An appeal has been launched to build a lasting memorial to the composer.
sb's first/second/last etc appearance
▪ This is the band's last appearance in the UK before a 46-date tour of Europe.
sb's last will and testamentformal (= sb's will)
sb’s last chance
▪ This is my last chance to try and pass the exam.
sb’s last/final resting place (=the place where someone is buried)
sb’s last/final/dying wish
▪ Her last wish was to be buried in her husband’s grave.
the first/last day of term
▪ On the last day of term we went home early.
the last vestiges
▪ The new law removed the last vestiges of royal power.
the last/final chapter
▪ The final chapter summarizes the themes in the book.
the last/final part
▪ We had reached the last part of our journey.
the last/latter half
▪ He struggled with ill health in the latter half of his life.
the last/latter/closing years of sth
▪ He changed his opinion during the last years of his life.
the last/next century
▪ The boats were built in the last century.
the last/next few
▪ The office has been closed for the last few days.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
at the last count
▪ At the last count, only 18 Japanese firms were making car parts in America.
▪ There are a lot of professional athletes living in the Orlando area -- more than 100 at last count.
▪ Apart from Summerchild and a clerical assistant, the Unit at the last count still consisted of one single member, Serafin herself.
▪ I have, at the last count, 19 separate applications under consideration by 12 separate funding bodies.
▪ It has now become a challenge to find new varieties of herb - at the last count there were just over 130.
▪ More than 200, in fact, at the last count.
▪ My sister Mahaud, at the last count, had more admirers than there are Elks.
▪ The total world population was put at 190 at the last count.
▪ They have been joined by a growing group of people denied entry, 198 at the last count.
▪ Yet at the last count there were six oil-rich states bordering the Gulf.
be down to your last pound/dollar/litre etc
be sb's last/only/best hope
▪ Advocates just seem to take it on faith that annexation is the only hope of salvation for this city.
▪ But mad or not, you are my only hope, Meg.
▪ But Thomas Sachs was now her only hope.
▪ I expected to be disappointed, though the letter was now my only hope.
▪ In the long term, Mr Heseltine said that privatisation was the only hope for the industry.
▪ Is he only hoping to make money?
▪ Robert Urquhart was her only hope, her only ally.
▪ That was the only hope I had of reaching the doctor.
be the last thing on sb's mind
▪ Marriage is the last thing on my mind right now.
breathe your last (breath)
▪ Five hours more and she'd breathe her last and never know them.
▪ In the blue light of the morning he breathed his last.
▪ Large-scale, publicly-owned enterprises will breathe their last gasp and wither away well before the state which spawned them.
▪ Millions who were dangerously ill or breathing their last.
▪ The moment Carey was confident that Elizabeth had breathed her last he was in the saddle, racing for the Border.
▪ When it looked as though he was breathing his last, Beria's face shone with delight.
every (last) ounce of courage/energy/strength etc
▪ It had taken every ounce of courage she possessed to board the aircraft after her last experience.
famous last words
▪ So he said, with those famous last words, "Don't worry, everything will be fine."
first and last
▪ And a system whose first and last resort was all too often expediency.
▪ At Banff I climbed my first and last mountain - Mount Rundle.
▪ For the first and last time in her life, Amelia was too preoccupied to interact with her peers.
▪ I sat back and treated myself to a cigarette, determined to make it the first and last of the day.
▪ Instead of pressing the spacebar anywhere between the first and last characters of the text, press the Home spacebar.
▪ It was the first and last time that management capitulated in the face of a departing mortgage trader.
▪ She wrote that she was dying of a fever, and asked him to visit her for the first and last time.
▪ These records included the first and last dates of all absences and the reason for absence.
have the last laugh
▪ Boy did he have the last laugh.
▪ Holding a rolling pin and determined to have the last laugh.
▪ Yet women drivers have the last laugh.
in the final/last analysis
▪ In the final analysis Stalin was just as much a dictator as Hitler.
▪ In the final analysis, the project was a failure.
▪ The responsibility for the accident must, in the last analysis, rest with the captain.
▪ And, in the final analysis, are they any good?
▪ But in the final analysis it had been he who wanted out.
▪ But in the final analysis, these are just details.
▪ It should also comfort to recognize that, in the final analysis, these sums are operating to purify decision-making.
▪ That, in the final analysis, is what organizational control is all about.
▪ The pressures driving research evaluation are, in the final analysis, political.
▪ The shift of leadership to John Smith may seem temporarily convincing, but it is in the last analysis cosmetic.
▪ The Trotskyist movement could benefit only in the final analysis and in the long range.
last rites
▪ Both were given last rites before being taken into the operating room.
▪ But they can not perform Catholic sacramental duties, such as hearing confession, offering Communion or giving last rites.
▪ It might as well have been the last rites.
▪ So he did what he has become accustomed to doing - gave the last rites.
▪ The Steelers were one Hail Mary away from last rites.
▪ They will have nothing to do with Catholic baptisms, marriages, or last rites.
▪ When a priest arrived to administer the last rites, Mansell sent him away.
▪ Your marriage has got off to an unfortunate start but it doesn't warrant the last rites just yet.
last thing
▪ It was the last thing he ever saw.
▪ Nobody can get to that last thing.
▪ Right now the last thing she wanted was to have them say it to her.
▪ The last thing Ardamal heard as he raced down the corridor was the tinkle of metal parts hitting the floor.
▪ The last thing I will be is a high-wire walker.
▪ This is the last thing President Mikhail Gorbachev needs, as he tries to contain a staggering economic crisis.
▪ When you have a chance to shoot 59, the last thing you want to do is leave it short.
▪ With household costs inevitably rising, the last thing he wants is a larger mortgage than he can reasonably afford.
last thing at night
▪ Lock the doors and turn off the lights last thing at night.
▪ The soldiers are supposed to polish their shoes last thing at night.
▪ Empty ashtrays last thing at night, and don't smoke in bed.
▪ It's the first thing I look at when I wake up, the last thing at night.
▪ It was after dark; the last thing at night.
▪ Of course, only in moderate quantities, and generally to be taken last thing at night.
▪ The only times my father could be found in his room were first thing in the morning and last thing at night.
▪ The rosary last thing at night.
▪ This can be carried out last thing at night, once the puppy has been outside to relieve itself.
▪ Why not set a few moments aside first thing in the morning and last thing at night?
last/final resort
▪ Great power status was in the last resort the ability to wage war.
▪ In buildings of more than two storeys, wait for the fire brigade, and jump only as a last resort.
▪ Lithium was to be a last resort, and it looked as if she needed some in October.
▪ Only in the last resort, under careful international policing and after all other attempts at persuasion have been exhausted.
▪ That was a last resort, they said.
▪ The guidance emphasises that restraint should be used as a last resort within a caring and disciplined home environment.
▪ They also want to use public community service jobs as a last resort, something Wilson strongly opposes.
▪ Who is the lender of last resort stopping financial panics and capital outflows from bringing the system down?
not hear the last of sb
pay your last respects (to sb)
▪ At the graveside, a volley of shots ... before a Hercules flew overhead to pay its last respects.
▪ Many thousands paid their last respects to Dubcek at his funeral in Bratislava on Nov. 15.
▪ The Krays, Richardsons, and many more villains had come to pay their last respects.
▪ This was quite a normal thing at that time and neighbours would call to pay their last respects.
sb's/sth's last gasp
▪ This cold spell appears to be winter's last gasp for the year.
▪ But it also was the last gasp for a team on the slide.
▪ Large-scale, publicly-owned enterprises will breathe their last gasp and wither away well before the state which spawned them.
▪ Sometimes even negative change is interpreted as merely the last gasp of the resistant old order.
▪ That is the way to add people on their last gasp to the repossessed list, not reduce it.
▪ This is the last gasp of the Romantic revolution that Beethoven instigated.
▪ Whether it is a rebirth or a last gasp remains to be seen.
see the last of sb/sth
▪ I hope we've seen the last of Tina Hughes' stupid boyfriend!
▪ All she did know was that she hadn't seen the last of him by a long chalk!
▪ At the end of the ceremony, they would see the last of the candidates step into the silvery baptismal pool.
▪ But still the house of Eli has not seen the last of it.
▪ Hadn't she thought she'd seen the last of Rourke Deveraugh?
▪ History is full of such isms, and we have hardly seen the last of them.
▪ It was a relief to see the last of them.
▪ We haven't seen the last of Bonnie.
▪ We may not have seen the last of this controversy.
the last but one/the next but two etc
the last judgment
the last minute
▪ And with so many players rushing into the market at the last minute, prices soared.
▪ As expected, Rachel canceled at the last minute.
▪ At the last minute a sense of something unsaid made her hurry after him.
▪ At the last minute the parent would abandon its charade and fly off to safety.
▪ At the last minute, McCain was relegated to the Oval Office.
▪ Not all were satisfied that the last minute restrictions were necessary.
▪ Work is still going on in fitting out a new store right up to the last minute.
the last moment
▪ At the last moment he saw an apple lying on the dresser and put it in his pocket.
▪ At the last moment, I looked up at the sky.
▪ But at the last moment courage failed them.
▪ I took the can carefully away at the last moment.
▪ I was hoping to hit him, but he dove clear at the last moment.
▪ In Madrid Casado triumphed and at the last moment Communist power was broken.
▪ We keep getting ready to go to oh all sorts of places - but at the last moment something always comes up.
the last post
the last rites
the last straw
▪ Making me work late on a Friday was the last straw!
▪ Suzy lying to me about the money was the last straw.
▪ And they felt that the pressures of her work had been the last straw.
▪ For some reason that Jinny did not quite understand, it was the last straw.
▪ For some, the effort to silence Zundel was the last straw.
▪ His electoral thefts were the last straw.
▪ Mr Brown said the planned charges were the last straw for customers already angry over banks' high-handed attitude.
▪ My getting this malignancy is the last straw, in her opinion.
▪ Recruitment of 40 top staff was the last straw.
▪ Sending in bailiffs was the last straw.
the last thing sb wants/expects/needs etc
▪ I like going to bed with her when going to bed with me is the last thing she wants.
▪ To be slipshod is to be hounded, which is the last thing he wants.
▪ With household costs inevitably rising, the last thing he wants is a larger mortgage than he can reasonably afford.
the last/final word
▪ The final word rests with the board.
▪ But the final word must be reserved for the destructive, disruptive role played by George Bush's administration.
▪ But the project belonged ultimately to the pupils and they should have the last words.
▪ By no means has the last word been written on the quantum Hall effect.
▪ Dana was opinionated and liked to have the last word in an argument.
▪ He had learned to let Leah have the last word.
▪ Intimacy is probably the last word anyone would use in connection with the Coliseum.
▪ Let that be the last word.
▪ So they do; but that is not the last word, only the first.
the next to last
▪ Stewart was assured of the championship in the next to last race of the year.
the/your last penny
▪ They took everything she had, down to the last penny.
to a man/to the last man
too good to be true/to last
with your last/dying breath
▪ With his last breath, he told me he would always love me.
II.adverbEXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Connect the red wires first and the black ones last.
▪ I'm saving that chocolate for last.
▪ I do all our dishes, and leave the dog's dish till last.
▪ I was told I'll be speaking last.
▪ The teacher called out my name last.
▪ When I saw her last, she was pregnant.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Despite experiencing tiredness and illness at times, she can't remember when she last took time off work.
▪ Isetan shares were last offered at 1, 620 yen, down 1. 8 percent from its closing price yesterday.
▪ Josie came out of the school almost last.
▪ Oakland and the New York Mets last did it in 1973.
▪ Yet there was a change in his lad since he had last seen him.
III.nounEXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ At a press conference, Wiltshire Police revealed that Mrs Campbell had last been seen alive a week ago.
▪ But I figured the jeans wouldn't last long.
▪ Each one was hurrying to avoid being last.
▪ It's good to see their interests being looked after at long last.
▪ It was last to start and at this rate, will probably be last to finish.
▪ Mr Evan's rages were noisy while they lasted but they didn't last long.
▪ Only the leaders were mounted, and even that would not last long, although there were horse-boys behind with replacements.
▪ She had been last noticed at the wheel of the car when the Josephs arrived there.
IV.verbCOLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
about
▪ They were easy interviews and lasted about ten minutes.
▪ He gave only one kind of sound, a grating, even-toned grunt that lasted about one second.
▪ The journey lasts about twenty five minutes.
▪ Such cycles last about 100 years and have consisted of three phases, each about a generation long.
▪ This would last about 2-3 weeks, during which time I asked the family to make great efforts with the treatment plan.
▪ At the outset of the campaign, allied spokesmen suggested the air-only phase was expected to last about ten days.
▪ It lasts about 45 minutes, and is not usually Communion.
for
▪ Depending on use, these will last for between 60 and 90 minutes of continuous operation.
▪ It can thus invest on the assumption that the contract will not last for merely a year.
▪ Its 3.3V design enables the battery to last for approximately eight hours.
▪ We used Forest palisade poles, which are pressure-treated with preservative and guaranteed to last for at least fifteen years.
▪ Furthermore, because projects can last for up to four months, an upturn could take time to emerge.
▪ Hibernation lasts for between four and five months, from October until March or a little later in the north of Britain.
▪ In fact the affair - if that's what it ever came to - lasted for only twenty days.
▪ This arrangement appears to have lasted for around a century.
for ever
▪ Like their love, it would last forever.
▪ This atmosphere can perhaps last for some time, but it will not last forever.
▪ The stench of the skunk seems to last forever.
▪ Success is not going to last forever.
▪ At the moment they think being with their parents is absolutely wonderful and that's not going to last forever.
▪ When you bought that new computer a couple of years ago, you probably thought its 500-megabyte hard disk would last forever.
▪ I want this voyage to last forever.
▪ At the top of the bell-shaped curve, you feel as if your success will last forever.
long
▪ The contest did not last long, but nearly 1500 were killed and wounded...
▪ The ambiguity lasted long after Willie died.
▪ When they did, walkouts never lasted long.
▪ You don't last long in a job if you start killing people.
▪ It was decomposing fast, of course, bodies don't last long in the sea, especially in this weather.
▪ This didn't last long, however, as one customer thought it was there to be consumed!
▪ The tequila didn't last long.
longer
▪ Eddie Gray was a great player too and lasted longer than Best.
▪ One town that has lasted longer than most is Bisbee.
▪ I do go for designer clothes most of the time, because they last longer and are a far better quality.
▪ Making these uses less energy, and they last longer than the cast iron drains and sewers they replace.
▪ He noted, in passing, that he had lasted longer than Texas Sen.
▪ Blanche wished her patience had lasted longer but she shrugged stoically.
▪ The flowers will last longer in the cooler air, too.
■ NOUN
century
▪ They stayed on in Constantinople and became the nucleus of the Varangian Guard, which lasted for many centuries.
▪ They lasted more than a century and still determine much of national life.
▪ Some of this can be 1,000 times more radioactive than low-level waste, and its activity will last centuries rather than decades.
▪ Instead, heavy trade restrictions were levied, driving the young country into a period of isolation that lasted over a century.
▪ This arrangement appears to have lasted for around a century.
▪ Plenty of mysteries have lasted for centuries and finally yielded to explanation.
course
▪ He had even tried to stop drinking a couple of times for me, though of course it never lasted.
▪ The course lasts for two years and is a combination of taught lectures, tutorials and practical experience.
▪ Those with a professional approach have provided structured courses for church musicians lasting a year or more.
▪ This course lasts for the equivalent of three terms, and has two distinct parts.
▪ The Lyons course was scheduled to last four years, but few pupils stayed much more than a year.
▪ The full course last from January to November 1993, but it is made up of six separate units.
day
▪ They were able to reflect that their wanderings at sea had lasted precisely forty days and forty nights.
▪ The meeting lasted two days and the competitors were billeted out in the homes of local schoolchildren.
▪ The initial period lasts for 20 working days.
▪ If the engagement lasts several days, like this festival, the first half drags.
▪ At first his visit was intended to last only a few days.
▪ The symptoms of flu may last several days, usually starting with a high temperature often with a headache.
days
▪ A similar Flosse-Vernaudon coalition in 1982 had lasted only 110 days.
▪ Because of this search, the Mysteries last nine days, with a torchlit procession during the middle night.
▪ The sergeant has denied assault, in a trial that's expected to last five days.
▪ The moratorium would last 45 days but could be extended for up to two years.
▪ In a bad season there may be one or two breaks in the wind pattern lasting four to seven days.
▪ Normally, a stand down would last three days or so.
▪ The initial period lasts for 20 working days.
▪ Their conversations lasted seventeen days and ended in zero.
decade
▪ Some of this can be 1,000 times more radioactive than low-level waste, and its activity will last centuries rather than decades.
▪ It was a life that would last for a decade, and die with the war.
▪ Many of these lakes last for decades if not centuries and are used by several generations of beavers.
▪ Passage of the 1994 law came after a bitter fight that lasted nearly a decade.
▪ The move, condemned by the International Labour Organization, led to a dispute which lasted through the decade.
▪ What does it mean to say that a marriage which may have lasted decades was never valid?
▪ Thus began a rich collaboration between the two that has lasted nearly five decades.
▪ Give it six years and it should enter a terrific mature period that should last at least a decade.
hour
▪ He was speaking after a meeting with Sir Patrick Mayhew which lasted more than an hour.
▪ Rush hour lasts half an hour, and bicycles remain a realistic form of transportation.
▪ More than 100 people attended the seminar, which was mean to last one-and-half hours but continued for three!
▪ Then, the evening emergence lasts half an hour.
▪ The visit lasted over an hour during which time Neil Kinnock experienced at first hand what carpet manufacturing was all about.
▪ I thought it would last about half an hour.
▪ The meeting lasted almost two hours.
▪ There are guided tours lasting approximately an hour round the Town Hall.
hours
▪ Helpers approaching have sometimes been bitten or attacked wildly in the delirium that follows and which may last as long as twelve tormented hours.
▪ These divagations last several hours, and at no point does Blue have the sense that Black is walking to any purpose.
▪ When such dinners can last for hours, a well-upholstered seat is essential.
▪ The dreamlike flight lasted four hours.
▪ Over 100 interviews were carried out, lasting some 170 hours in all, as well as several shorter, informal conversations.
▪ She tried again the next day at a lower pump pressure and lasted two hours and fifteen minutes.
▪ Our sense of achievement lasted the few hours until we collected the kids.
▪ The movie lasts almost three hours and the two stars spend around 10 minutes together.
journey
▪ The journey on the ferry lasted just half an hour.
▪ The journey lasts about twenty five minutes.
▪ The train journey lasted all day, and it was dark when they arrived at the station.
▪ The caravan journey lasted no more than a mile.
▪ The journey was meant to last three hours, but the train always left at least an hour late.
lifetime
▪ Good looks can last your lifetime!
▪ The second benefit is long lasting; in fact, it lasts a lifetime.
▪ We've had enough of fair-haired people here to last us a lifetime!
▪ Grief following any death can last a lifetime.
▪ Eating smoked salmon while talking to Johnny Prescott had seemed to last a lifetime.
▪ Indeed, the overwhelming fascination of men with female youth argues that pair bonds have lasted lifetimes.
▪ In a single sentence, Pope John provided the Council with a method and commentators with material that could last a lifetime.
▪ Properly cared for, however, they can last a lifetime, even become heirlooms.
minute
▪ No song lasted more than three minutes, and after each the carrot-haired kid cursed us to death.
▪ The seizure usually lasts about 1 minute and is typically followed by a brief period of confusion.
▪ The trial of the 22-year-old player lasted 45 minutes.
▪ It lasted only a minute and stopped.
▪ Not for the first time this season, he was lucky to last 90 minutes.
▪ The obligatory standing ovation when he first entered the game against the Golden State Warriors lasted less than a minute.
▪ Begin increasing training intensity as soon as you can last the 20 minutes.
▪ This stalemate lasted an excruciating minute until Ray sat down.
minutes
▪ A test session lasting 30 minutes or more is not unusual.
▪ A 6-3 third set lasted only 26 perfunctory minutes.
▪ I try and believe in important things and they don't last for five minutes.
▪ Each pre-shift meeting should last 20 minutes, not two or three, and emphasize selling strategies.
▪ His opening statement to the commission was a rambling affair lasting 75 minutes.
▪ It lasted about 20 minutes, time only for a few film clips.
▪ The whole proceedings lasted only twenty-three minutes and assurances were given that the House would be kept informed.
month
▪ For £14.50 you can buy a season ticket to last four months.
▪ It was Desmond who put me on the game - that lasted for a few months, then I got fed up with it.
▪ A truce of sorts lasted until a month ago when the Gabrielsens revoked the agreement, their legal right under its provisions.
▪ It is expected to last two months with a break between June 19 and July 7.
▪ It would last for another six months, but by the time it ended, intimate revue was finally dead.
▪ He did not last six months.
months
▪ His longest relationship had lasted three months, and he had few friends.
▪ It lasted a nerve-racking eight months.
▪ The condition can last for months, but it goes away completely in time.
▪ Holiness aside, he was ill-suited for the papal office; he lasted five months in the Vatican.
▪ For £40.00 you can buy a season ticket to last 12 months.
▪ It was Desmond who put me on the game - that lasted for a few months, then I got fed up with it.
▪ Such a suspension can last for months or years.
night
▪ Oliver Ingraham said that the emergency nurses had told him he should be prepared: Jasper might not last the night.
▪ She can't last the night through.
▪ Such meetings can last all day and night, or for the duration of the trip.
▪ The highs can last all night - the lows a life-time.
▪ His clemency had earned him the regard of the West and would, surely, last until Twelfth Night.
peace
▪ To make sure that the peace lasts, ask other friends and family for help.
▪ Despite his calls for moderation, however, he must have known that peace would not last.
period
▪ Never over-exercise; the ideal period should not last longer than 15 minutes.
▪ Instead, heavy trade restrictions were levied, driving the young country into a period of isolation that lasted over a century.
▪ The initial period lasts for 20 working days.
▪ The first period lasts until age 7 or 8.
▪ The training period lasted from July 2 to August 25, with area studies concentrated in the final month.
▪ Give it six years and it should enter a terrific mature period that should last at least a decade.
▪ Then I got worried when my period lasted a month.
rest
▪ He had seen enough terror there to last him the rest of his days.
▪ If only this day could last for the rest of her life.
▪ As we drove back through Johannesburg, I wondered if I would be able to last the rest of the week.
▪ It develops a state of mind which lasts for the rest of one's life; an approach to things.
▪ In 1832 Nicholas made a trade agreement with Washington which lasted for the rest of the century.
seconds
▪ My irritation at the contrivance lasted for 30 seconds.
▪ One of them was a local boxer from Medfield who lasted 89 seconds with Mike Tyson.
▪ The witnesses would say later that the searingly brilliant white flash seemed to last for several seconds.
▪ This process should last only a few seconds or the coral will begin to dissolve.
▪ It lasted only about 60 seconds, and perhaps it doesn't sound like a particularly memorable sighting.
▪ It lasted only a few seconds before a vision of terror struck them dumb.
trial
▪ The trial lasted for a month, but no reports of the proceedings had appeared.
▪ That phase of the trial is expected to last only a week.
▪ The trial is expected to last several weeks.
▪ The trial is expected to last about a week, attorneys said.
▪ Bedworth's trial, expected to last three weeks, continues.
▪ The trial lasted for over a month.
▪ In contrast to Guinness I, Ward's trial lasted just six weeks and was based on one charge.
war
▪ The alliance should prepare for a conventional war lasting no more than a few days.
▪ But the war has lasted a long time and you learn to cope with such things.
▪ I wondered just how long the war would last.
▪ All these countries are deep in civil wars that have lasted for years-or even decades.
▪ They all prayed that the war wouldn't last long.
▪ Little did we imagine then that the war would last until November 1918.
week
▪ He had been admitted with a fever which had lasted for three weeks.
▪ He thought she might not last a week at Anpetuwi.
▪ The trial is expected to last about a week.
▪ The trial, the first of its kind, is expected to last three weeks.
▪ It was the beginning of a siege that would last a week.
weeks
▪ Family credit lasts for 26 weeks at a time, then you will have to reapply.
▪ When the hypercalcemia is due to toxicity from vitamin D2 therapy, it may last for several weeks.
▪ Taylor suggests that in more than 50% of cases of acute H pylori infection, hypochlorhydria lasts for several weeks.
▪ The situation worsened when another shutdown began on Dec. 16. and lasted more than three weeks.
▪ In the spring of 1785 Leopold Mozart paid his son a visit lasting 10 weeks.
▪ The chorea tends to occur several months after rheumatic fever and lasts four to six weeks at most.
▪ Complaints lasting for days or weeks from excitement of the emotions, worry or vexation.
▪ The trial, held in the cafeteria of the Youth Guidance Center, lasted four weeks.
year
▪ The death of a pit is the end of an era, in some cases lasting more than 100 years.
▪ He calculates the car will last two more years after which he thinks he will be able to sell it for £400.
▪ Coal reserves have also expanded worldwide, with Britain's contribution expected to last several hundred years.
▪ Those with a professional approach have provided structured courses for church musicians lasting a year or more.
▪ The 1975 definition was an exceptionally pure version that had not been current previously and only lasted a year or two.
years
▪ He calculates the car will last two more years after which he thinks he will be able to sell it for £400.
▪ Typically lasts 10 to 15 years, depending on the brand.
▪ The course lasts for two years and is a combination of taught lectures, tutorials and practical experience.
▪ The probe has lasted for nearly two years and in its final days has split the House into warring partisan camps.
▪ It is extraordinary that their image of being hardworking, respectable and down-to-earth has lasted for so many years.
▪ Typically lasts up to 50 years.
▪ Replacement of curling stones is long-delayed as a pair of stones can last up to 25 years.
■ VERB
build
▪ It was built to last, and the vaulted classrooms now serve as tearooms for any tourists intrepid enough to reach them.
▪ That was built to last if anything ever was.
▪ So offices were built to last.
▪ A sleek executive saloon that's built to last.
▪ Old Hercule's stuff had been built to last, she reflected ruefully as she turned on the shower.
▪ Alexandra Palace was built to last.
expect
▪ The sergeant has denied assault, in a trial that's expected to last five days.
▪ Few expected Reno to last to the end of Clinton's term.
▪ Marriage was expected to last for life and adultery and fornication were punished in the ecclesiastical courts.
▪ It is a situation expected to last out the century, at the least.
▪ One of the problems of today's eating habits is that people expect food to last over longer periods.
▪ I had embarked on a life-time career that I expected would last for the following forty years.
▪ It is expected to last two months with a break between June 19 and July 7.
▪ That phase of the trial is expected to last only a week.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
at the last count
▪ At the last count, only 18 Japanese firms were making car parts in America.
▪ There are a lot of professional athletes living in the Orlando area -- more than 100 at last count.
▪ Apart from Summerchild and a clerical assistant, the Unit at the last count still consisted of one single member, Serafin herself.
▪ I have, at the last count, 19 separate applications under consideration by 12 separate funding bodies.
▪ It has now become a challenge to find new varieties of herb - at the last count there were just over 130.
▪ More than 200, in fact, at the last count.
▪ My sister Mahaud, at the last count, had more admirers than there are Elks.
▪ The total world population was put at 190 at the last count.
▪ They have been joined by a growing group of people denied entry, 198 at the last count.
▪ Yet at the last count there were six oil-rich states bordering the Gulf.
be down to your last pound/dollar/litre etc
be sb's last/only/best hope
▪ Advocates just seem to take it on faith that annexation is the only hope of salvation for this city.
▪ But mad or not, you are my only hope, Meg.
▪ But Thomas Sachs was now her only hope.
▪ I expected to be disappointed, though the letter was now my only hope.
▪ In the long term, Mr Heseltine said that privatisation was the only hope for the industry.
▪ Is he only hoping to make money?
▪ Robert Urquhart was her only hope, her only ally.
▪ That was the only hope I had of reaching the doctor.
be the last thing on sb's mind
▪ Marriage is the last thing on my mind right now.
every (last) ounce of courage/energy/strength etc
▪ It had taken every ounce of courage she possessed to board the aircraft after her last experience.
famous last words
▪ So he said, with those famous last words, "Don't worry, everything will be fine."
first and last
▪ And a system whose first and last resort was all too often expediency.
▪ At Banff I climbed my first and last mountain - Mount Rundle.
▪ For the first and last time in her life, Amelia was too preoccupied to interact with her peers.
▪ I sat back and treated myself to a cigarette, determined to make it the first and last of the day.
▪ Instead of pressing the spacebar anywhere between the first and last characters of the text, press the Home spacebar.
▪ It was the first and last time that management capitulated in the face of a departing mortgage trader.
▪ She wrote that she was dying of a fever, and asked him to visit her for the first and last time.
▪ These records included the first and last dates of all absences and the reason for absence.
have the last laugh
▪ Boy did he have the last laugh.
▪ Holding a rolling pin and determined to have the last laugh.
▪ Yet women drivers have the last laugh.
in the final/last analysis
▪ In the final analysis Stalin was just as much a dictator as Hitler.
▪ In the final analysis, the project was a failure.
▪ The responsibility for the accident must, in the last analysis, rest with the captain.
▪ And, in the final analysis, are they any good?
▪ But in the final analysis it had been he who wanted out.
▪ But in the final analysis, these are just details.
▪ It should also comfort to recognize that, in the final analysis, these sums are operating to purify decision-making.
▪ That, in the final analysis, is what organizational control is all about.
▪ The pressures driving research evaluation are, in the final analysis, political.
▪ The shift of leadership to John Smith may seem temporarily convincing, but it is in the last analysis cosmetic.
▪ The Trotskyist movement could benefit only in the final analysis and in the long range.
last rites
▪ Both were given last rites before being taken into the operating room.
▪ But they can not perform Catholic sacramental duties, such as hearing confession, offering Communion or giving last rites.
▪ It might as well have been the last rites.
▪ So he did what he has become accustomed to doing - gave the last rites.
▪ The Steelers were one Hail Mary away from last rites.
▪ They will have nothing to do with Catholic baptisms, marriages, or last rites.
▪ When a priest arrived to administer the last rites, Mansell sent him away.
▪ Your marriage has got off to an unfortunate start but it doesn't warrant the last rites just yet.
last thing
▪ It was the last thing he ever saw.
▪ Nobody can get to that last thing.
▪ Right now the last thing she wanted was to have them say it to her.
▪ The last thing Ardamal heard as he raced down the corridor was the tinkle of metal parts hitting the floor.
▪ The last thing I will be is a high-wire walker.
▪ This is the last thing President Mikhail Gorbachev needs, as he tries to contain a staggering economic crisis.
▪ When you have a chance to shoot 59, the last thing you want to do is leave it short.
▪ With household costs inevitably rising, the last thing he wants is a larger mortgage than he can reasonably afford.
last thing at night
▪ Lock the doors and turn off the lights last thing at night.
▪ The soldiers are supposed to polish their shoes last thing at night.
▪ Empty ashtrays last thing at night, and don't smoke in bed.
▪ It's the first thing I look at when I wake up, the last thing at night.
▪ It was after dark; the last thing at night.
▪ Of course, only in moderate quantities, and generally to be taken last thing at night.
▪ The only times my father could be found in his room were first thing in the morning and last thing at night.
▪ The rosary last thing at night.
▪ This can be carried out last thing at night, once the puppy has been outside to relieve itself.
▪ Why not set a few moments aside first thing in the morning and last thing at night?
last/final resort
▪ Great power status was in the last resort the ability to wage war.
▪ In buildings of more than two storeys, wait for the fire brigade, and jump only as a last resort.
▪ Lithium was to be a last resort, and it looked as if she needed some in October.
▪ Only in the last resort, under careful international policing and after all other attempts at persuasion have been exhausted.
▪ That was a last resort, they said.
▪ The guidance emphasises that restraint should be used as a last resort within a caring and disciplined home environment.
▪ They also want to use public community service jobs as a last resort, something Wilson strongly opposes.
▪ Who is the lender of last resort stopping financial panics and capital outflows from bringing the system down?
pay your last respects (to sb)
▪ At the graveside, a volley of shots ... before a Hercules flew overhead to pay its last respects.
▪ Many thousands paid their last respects to Dubcek at his funeral in Bratislava on Nov. 15.
▪ The Krays, Richardsons, and many more villains had come to pay their last respects.
▪ This was quite a normal thing at that time and neighbours would call to pay their last respects.
sb's/sth's last gasp
▪ This cold spell appears to be winter's last gasp for the year.
▪ But it also was the last gasp for a team on the slide.
▪ Large-scale, publicly-owned enterprises will breathe their last gasp and wither away well before the state which spawned them.
▪ Sometimes even negative change is interpreted as merely the last gasp of the resistant old order.
▪ That is the way to add people on their last gasp to the repossessed list, not reduce it.
▪ This is the last gasp of the Romantic revolution that Beethoven instigated.
▪ Whether it is a rebirth or a last gasp remains to be seen.
the last but one/the next but two etc
the last judgment
the last minute
▪ And with so many players rushing into the market at the last minute, prices soared.
▪ As expected, Rachel canceled at the last minute.
▪ At the last minute a sense of something unsaid made her hurry after him.
▪ At the last minute the parent would abandon its charade and fly off to safety.
▪ At the last minute, McCain was relegated to the Oval Office.
▪ Not all were satisfied that the last minute restrictions were necessary.
▪ Work is still going on in fitting out a new store right up to the last minute.
the last moment
▪ At the last moment he saw an apple lying on the dresser and put it in his pocket.
▪ At the last moment, I looked up at the sky.
▪ But at the last moment courage failed them.
▪ I took the can carefully away at the last moment.
▪ I was hoping to hit him, but he dove clear at the last moment.
▪ In Madrid Casado triumphed and at the last moment Communist power was broken.
▪ We keep getting ready to go to oh all sorts of places - but at the last moment something always comes up.
the last post
the last rites
the last straw
▪ Making me work late on a Friday was the last straw!
▪ Suzy lying to me about the money was the last straw.
▪ And they felt that the pressures of her work had been the last straw.
▪ For some reason that Jinny did not quite understand, it was the last straw.
▪ For some, the effort to silence Zundel was the last straw.
▪ His electoral thefts were the last straw.
▪ Mr Brown said the planned charges were the last straw for customers already angry over banks' high-handed attitude.
▪ My getting this malignancy is the last straw, in her opinion.
▪ Recruitment of 40 top staff was the last straw.
▪ Sending in bailiffs was the last straw.
the last thing sb wants/expects/needs etc
▪ I like going to bed with her when going to bed with me is the last thing she wants.
▪ To be slipshod is to be hounded, which is the last thing he wants.
▪ With household costs inevitably rising, the last thing he wants is a larger mortgage than he can reasonably afford.
the last/final word
▪ The final word rests with the board.
▪ But the final word must be reserved for the destructive, disruptive role played by George Bush's administration.
▪ But the project belonged ultimately to the pupils and they should have the last words.
▪ By no means has the last word been written on the quantum Hall effect.
▪ Dana was opinionated and liked to have the last word in an argument.
▪ He had learned to let Leah have the last word.
▪ Intimacy is probably the last word anyone would use in connection with the Coliseum.
▪ Let that be the last word.
▪ So they do; but that is not the last word, only the first.
the next to last
▪ Stewart was assured of the championship in the next to last race of the year.
the/your last penny
▪ They took everything she had, down to the last penny.
to a man/to the last man
too good to be true/to last
with your last/dying breath
▪ With his last breath, he told me he would always love me.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ $400 won't last you long in Chicago.
▪ A can of baby formula costing $6.00 will last you three to four days.
▪ Analysts are confident the downturn in share prices will not last long.
▪ Cheap saucepans can't really be expected to last.
▪ Each consultation can last between 10 minutes and half an hour.
▪ He knew they only had enough food to last another three days.
▪ Her operation lasted around three hours.
▪ His breathing was getting worse and he was not expected to last the night.
▪ I still have $100, but that won't last until the end of the vacation.
▪ I wanted the weekend to last forever.
▪ It's amazing how long this car has lasted, really.
▪ It's amazing that she's managed to last this long, really.
▪ It's hard to say how much longer the astronauts will last without fresh supplies.
▪ It's not certain how long the ceasefire will last.
▪ It's the worst cold I've ever had, but luckily it didn't last very long.
▪ Mexico achieved a remarkable 8% annual growth rate, but the new prosperity did not last.
▪ Most batteries last for about 8 hours.
▪ Ours was a happy marriage, but I always feared it wouldn't last.
▪ rainstorms lasting all night long
▪ Some wine-makers will tell you that a cask lasts only for four years.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Bedworth's trial, expected to last three weeks, continues.
▪ Helpers approaching have sometimes been bitten or attacked wildly in the delirium that follows and which may last as long as twelve tormented hours.
▪ Of course it would not last.
▪ Phase 1 started in July 1980 and lasted 3 years, during which 2.5 million households were visited.
▪ The attack usually lasts for several minutes but can go on much longer.
▪ Within himself, however, it felt as though his stay had lasted three or four hours at most.
V.nounCOLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
long
▪ It's good to see their interests being looked after at long last.
▪ At long last came the passing out.
▪ He also knew that the next few minutes could lose what chance had so miraculously delivered up to him at long last.
▪ The 17 months of agony washed away at long last.
▪ However, as you probably know, the Earnings Rule was at long last abolished at the start of October 1989.
▪ Remembering the kiss he had given her after breakfast it seemed as if their relationship might at long last have changed.
▪ Perhaps it's a real fire at long last.
▪ Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ It's good to see their interests being looked after at long last.
▪ It was last to start and at this rate, will probably be last to finish.