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collection o' collocations

An open list of 75 words by blafferty.

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Words that are generally seen in each other's company; words that, when mentioned, bring their partners to mind.

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  • blafferty I'm curious about jughandle left and even-toed ungulate since I don't hear them bandied about much ... or at all. Anybody? Jul 18, 2011

  • blafferty Hmm, when I think "madding" I automatically think "crowd," which is kind of what I'm going for here, but that might be just because that quote is used so often. Let me check examples.

    Edit: looks like it's often used with the whole "far from the" intact, but not always. Added. Jun 8, 2011

  • sionnach Speaking of literary phrases, some possibilities might be "madding crowd", "budding grove", "darkling plain". But these strike me as being a bit too literary to be considered of general interest. Besides which, open up the list in that way, next thing you know, half of Shakespeare will have elbowed its way in. Jun 7, 2011

  • blafferty Thanks! I did look it up, but haven't come across it before. Maybe I'm reading the wrong kinds of books. Jun 6, 2011

  • reesetee I concur with the advice about concurring with rolig. Jun 6, 2011

  • sionnach I have come across groaning board many times in my reading, so I concur with rolig.

    (It's generally wise to concur with rolig, in my experience) Jun 6, 2011

  • rolig A groaning board is a table (=board, as in "room and board") overflowing with delicious food, a banquet. It is an old expression that is today quaint enough to be used by restaurants and taverns as their name. It's a true collocation, I believe, not just a compound noun. Jun 6, 2011

  • blafferty Groaning board is unfamiliar to me, rolig - is it really very common in either speech or literature? And is it a collocation or a compound name for something (like tea chest)? Jun 6, 2011

  • blafferty Wow, thanks for all the contributions! The only one I'm not familiar with is neap tide.
    I'll check out your amber list for yoinking. Jun 5, 2011

  • sionnach I don't think tea chest belongs on this list, at least not the way I understand this list. I don't know whether such set phrases as "flotsam and jetsam" belong or not. Then there are phrases like lily-livered poltroon, which might just be natural juxtapositions in my head, but not in anyone else's. :-)
    This list seems to have some partial overlap in its intent with my own "amber words" list. Jun 4, 2011

  • blafferty Thanks,rolig! Jun 4, 2011

  • blafferty Thanks, bilby; tea break stays!
    Sionnach, bilby: do you feel that tea chest is a collocation or a compound? Or can it be both? May 28, 2011

  • bilby Tea break is certainly in use here (Australia), along with coffee break and smoko. May 26, 2011

  • sionnach Too tired to correct that ludicrous ambiguity in that last post. But I was living in a rented apartment, not in a tea chest. May 26, 2011

  • sionnach After my mother died, in 1985, I inherited one of her china services. It was all packed up and shipped to New Jersey, where I was living at the time, in a tea chest. Because back in those days, that was what one used to ship things in. I still have the entire set, fully intact. It's been used maybe a total of five times. Guess I don't throw enough dinner parties for twelve people. May 26, 2011

  • blafferty Thanks, bilby! I've never heard tea break, let alone often enough to consider it a collocation. Tea chest I think I've read. May 26, 2011

  • bilby Tea chest, but only because I remember moving house at a very young age - one of my first memories, perhaps - before cardboard cartons were standard. May 26, 2011

  • blafferty Tea break ... maybe in England? Anyone? May 26, 2011

  • blafferty Not sure I would consider "tease teas" or "coffee toffee" collocations, fbharjo! May 9, 2011