god of war

We were disgusted by his loud belch. The volcano belched smoke and ashes. The exhaust pipe belched out dense black smoke. The haze is caused mostly by sulphur dioxide belching from coal-burning power plants.

The dead deer was impaled on a spear. Walruses sometimes use their tusks to impale seals for food

Leave me alone, you sod! This sod is awful, but it's not like we have much choice.

The little blighters next door have trampled all over my flowers again.

She was a voluble, smart, funny interviewee. Two people walked by having a voluble argument.

The Designated Driver programme offers not just a free ride home for inebriated drivers and their passengers, but the opportunity to get their car home safely as well.

I hate the way he's so condescending to his staff! His condescending attitude offended his teammates.

In a sense, it is an entity of motion determined by the variables of sonic structure that link it together. A sonic boom is an explosive sound created by a shock wave formed at the nose of an aircraft

The father wronged his son in many ways.

We need to consider the merits and demerits of the plan. She got three demerits for lateness on this term's report.

He talked me out of taking my own life. Christians believe that to take one's life is a sin.

He abjured his religion/his life of dissipation. The assumption is that he had attained citizenship, either through marriage or through naturalization, and at that point may have been abjured from returning. He abjured his allegiance to his former country

execrable crimes. execrable crimes.

The caught quota has been raised again this year. Five minutes and I filled my quota for the week. Any salesman who goes over his quota gets a holiday here

light-hearted rhyme deriding both the seriousness and solemnity of the occurrence.

He answered openly and honestly without hesitation or equivocation. Her equivocations were not evasions. She accused the minister of equivocating, claiming that he had deliberately avoided telling the public how bad the problem really was.

She sprayed red paint all over his car in one last vengeful act before leaving him for good.

Hardtack was ideal for long sea voyages as it would remain edible for a very long time. Hardtack is so dry and hard that you really need to dip it in something or soften it in a pan with some fat

a spectral aspect of this peculiarly talkative squirrel. a spectral figure/presence. spectral light

a delectable cheesecake

The plan to cull large numbers of baby seals has angered environmental groups. the annual red deer cull. She went to strange lands to cull recipes for her book.

Their house was little more than a hovel.

It's of no any distinctive artistic merit except for maybe the most excitable individuals in the group. The dog is excitable, so don’t come too close.

The young librarian is great at finding titles children will like. The Central Library saves money by hiring clerks paid by the hour rather than trained librarians. As an astronomy librarian, she is a member of a collaborative group of experts.

Excessive managerial control is inimical to creative expression. Such a severe climate is inimical to plant growth

The process by which malignant cancer cells multiply isn't fully understood. He developed a malignant hatred for the land of his birth

that historian's dryasdust prose desiccates what is actually an exciting period in European history. add a cup of desiccated coconut to the mix. Raisins are desiccated grapes; they're also dehydrated grapes.

deice an airplanes wings. Black spot, which looks like its name, attacks leaves. Left untreated, it spreads and multiplies, and can defoliate the plant.

songfullness. the sort of author who inspires lyricism or invective, not judicious interpretation

pigeons flying home to roost on the roof

a fetching smile

She had marvelous legs, and a trim figure. His lawn is always so trim... he has a trim beard. I went to the hairdresser for a trim.

They were also forced to "sanitize" reports that might show early church leaders or the official doctrine in a dim light. You can use sponges and dishcloths safely if you take care to sanitize them,

Many thought it was sacrilege to move the bones to another place

I got sick when I saw the viscera of the dead body.

My guts tell me that something is off out here. Or maybe that is my scrote?

A fall of 50 per cent or more on prices is not beyond the realms of possibility

Your compassion is a boon in this troubled time. Whilst a sleeping tablet is a boon, many sleeping tablets can be fatal.

I've made an embarrassing blunder. A woman died as a result of a doctor's blunder. I blundered badly by calling my wife by my ex-girlfriend's name. I could hear him blundering in the darkness.

He had finally found a company that would not combust. The whole ship might spontaneously combust (= start burning without being set on fire).

The very idea is preposterous! a preposterous suggestion

We don't have to win. We'll be pleased with a tie. The tie of my bag came unstitched.

We carefully pushed our way through the low brambles.

She's really squeamish and can't stand the sight of blood. Many cooks are squeamish about putting live shellfish into boiling water.

How does glue bond with impervious substances like glass and metal? He is impervious to criticism and rational argument.

He is known for his concussive hits - in practice. He can fire powerful bolts of this concussive force energy from his hands.

Fame in the world of rock and pop is largely ephemeral.

In the end, my heart carried the day. But deep down inside the human being, reason does not always carry the day. But a small voice from a young girl clearly carried the day.

We would spend every meal time entreating the child to eat her vegetables.

At first I thought they were true animals, managing to survive in putrescence. Of meat left in the earth, the way she liked it, still on the bone and half gone to putrescence. It was the scent of decay, of putrescence and death.

waited until he was out of earshot. They were within earshot of each other.

a man who immolated himself as an act of protest a ceremony in which they immolated their cherished possessions so that the gods would send rain

Cut flowers will soon wilt without water. After only an hour's hiking they were beginning to wilt in the heat.

he took the mortar and the pestle.

We have seen the violent dispersal of crowds of protesters. The seeds are adapted to dispersal by ants.

He finished the bottle, stood up to leave, and keeled over. The storm raged and they struggled to stop the boat from keeling over. After running the marathon, Jasper keeled over with exhaustion.

I'm not the kind of guy who happen to pop on parties in nightclubs, where people tend to do nothing but boozing, which by extension make despicable sots of them.

Paul's a really good bloke (= I like him a lot). He's a funny (sort of) bloke (= slightly strange).

The chicken you made was succulent. I've never seen such a succulent film before!

I've read an excerpt of the book on the Web and it's whetted my appetite. That one kiss had whetted his appetite.

the queen's resplendent purple robes I saw Anna at the other end of the room, resplendent in a red cocktail dress.

Well you won't be able to go off gallivanting around like this when there's a baby to be taken care of. Presumably, the rich could gallivant and have what and whom they want.

His arguments are aimed at the public's gullibility rather than their intelligence. The couple asked not to be named because they were embarrassed at their gullibility.

When we heard she'd got the job, we all went off for a celebratory drink.

His behaviour was obnoxious today! What an obnoxious smell! you behave like an obnoxious know-it-all. Let's get right into it. The title of your book, Why We Suck, is pretty obnoxious. Are we really that bad?

My brother is a terrible know-all.

The committee is a mere appendage of the council and has no power of its own. The organism has small leaf-like appendages. He had a tattoo on every visible appendage. The author appends a short footnote to the text explaining the point.

I began to muse about/on the possibility of starting my own business.

Amongst other pop ephemera, the auction will be selling off rock stars' stage clothes.

Nothing to do with the health of that benighted nation, we understand. The poor, benighted innocent had never seen such a man.

You might just be inundated with business and get behind.

I heard she had a new car, so I went out to take a gander at it.

She felt the reverberation(s) in her chest and cursed the drilling outside. This move is likely to have reverberations throughout the health service

The bone had been honed to a point. His physique was honed to perfection. Her debating skills were honed in the students' union. He does not work alone, but as part of a well-honed team.

rousing applause. The whole production had turned out to be a rousing success. Under his rousing energy the whole party was stirred into action.

His plan was such a success that even his original critics could scarcely forbear from congratulating him. The doctor said she was optimistic about the outcome of the operation but forbore to make any promises at this early stage.

It is hard for a sentient person to understand how any parents could treat their child so badly.

These kids are spoiled, entitled, self-absorbed, and apathetic.

After all I'd heard about the movie, it turned out to be a bit of a letdown.

Grandpa regaled us with tales of his small-town childhood.

They nailed him down to a specific time and place. After a five-hour meeting, we finally nailed down a deal.

Small splatters of molten lava were ejected from the crater. When X-rays are absorbed by matter, electrons are ejected from the atoms of which it is composed. A number of fans had been ejected from the bar for causing trouble.

His promise to improve education has become a rallying point for his supporters

Critics have dubbed him the new king of rock 'n' roll.

Her hair was matted with mud and rain.

braised celery Braise the lamb in wine

But it stretches credulity to argue that the problem here is one of bounded rationality.

congenial company/surroundings

He's a cad and a bounder - I'm not in the least surprised he let you down. I treated you like a brother and you acted like a cad!

There are lots of really sordid apartments in the city's poorer areas. He told me he'd had an affair but he spared me the sordid details. The first part is a very dark and sordid story.

But she liked to run things, and we humored her. We've humored you for several years because we could afford to.

gored by a bull

The creaking upstairs was starting to rattle me. The explosion rattled the cups on the table. The dying man's voice rattled in his throat. My car engine is making a strange rattling noise.

The disease usually runs its course in a few days.

The tabloids gave all the lurid details of floating wreckage and dismembered bodies. LURID adds to GRUESOME the suggestion of shuddering fascination with violent death and especially with murder.

I won't shoulder the responsibility for your mistakes. He shouldered the sack with letters and set off. She shouldered the door open because she was carrying something in both hands.

How am I supposed to live in this armpit? I live in the suburbs, next to an old ruined factory. Well, that's the armpit of the universe

The two teams are jousting for position at the top of the league.

Planes bombed the guerrilla positions yesterday in an attempt to flush out snipers from underground tunnels. We used a dog to flush the rabbits out

The new nuclear superpowers fought their first proxy war for global supremacy in the Asian heartland of Korea

a sparse population/audience sparse vegetation/woodland a sparse beard. Information coming out of the disaster area is sparse.

While my mother was baking a cake, a sweet smell was issuing from the kitchen. A company issued new stock. A terrible scream issued from the room.

Opposition parties accuse the newspaper's editor of being a government lapdog.

In a fit of temper he hurled the book across the room. Youths hurled stones at the soldiers.

the bludgeon of satire. was bludgeoned to death. We do not talk—we bludgeon one another with facts and theories to attack or overcome by aggressive argument: BULLY

I do tipple now and then.

The flood has left people and animals desperately scavenging for food. We managed to scavenge a lot of furniture from the dump.

a life of debauchery

Her movements were deft and quick. She answered the journalist's questions with a deft touch. He's very deft at handling awkward situations. She's a deft cook.

When they announced her name, the winner just sat there, flabbergasted. She is flabbergasted by the whole affair.

a sock on the jaw. He socked his brother in the eye. He socked me for calling him ugly. The news socked me. His sister socked him for using her phone without permission.

The nuclear waste has been entombed in concrete deep under the ground.

The storm/wind/rain has started to abate. The fighting in the area shows no sign of abating. Inflation is finally showing signs of abating.

It was a slavish reproduction of the novel.

He's not sure about the idea, but I'm sure we'll win him over in the end. This is the last chance for the candidates to win over voters.

I can't believe you're not going to mentor me anymore.

The team showed/proved its mettle in the final round. The real test of her political mettle came in the May elections.

Her eyes were huge and velvety, the color of night.