female viking warriors and queens of dragons

His novels draw heavily on his childhood. Americans are spending more than they earn, drawing on savings and building up debt to do so. He has secured a loan for a new building by drawing upon the resources of two existing tenants.

The fibers of burial accoutrements have been less difficult to identify. horticultural accoutrements

I'm not interested in half measures.

Many remember sport at school as elitist, focusing only on those who were good at it.

This is more about whose history is being constructed and told, and how causation is attributed.

wanton destruction of human life a wanton disregard for safety. Your child is wanton. I won't tolerate his behaviour. The plants in their garden are wanton.

He was charged with the murder and dismemberment of his neighbour. He had witnessed public hangings and dismemberments. the dismemberment of the empire

a disagreeable young man She said some very disagreeable things

I got a tepid response to my suggestion.

He held that distinction for only a couple of hours. Your son deserves the distinction because he's the best from his class

These people are forced to live in squalor. It was a dirty, damp, smelly flat - the usual student squalor.

Car dealers are wringing their hands over low sales this summer. wring something's neck

The Chronicle has pretensions to being a serious newspaper. Leonard’s paintings have a real freedom from pretension. He has no pretensions for higher office.

a war that called for guile rather than firepower

He was detained by a snow storm

The government has turned a minor local problem into a full-blown regional conflagration.

Stop dithering and choose which one you want! She's still dithering over whether to accept the job she's just been offered.

The investiture of the new president will take place this evening.

As for the power we had together, it was incalculable.

She spurned my offers of help. Ellis plays the part of the young lover spurned by his mistress.

What was the general tenor of his speech?

I ask you to pay no mind to this pathetic acts of impertinency.

She sent a ten-page missive to the committee, detailing her objections.

The party was nothing short of a disaster. His achievements as a political reformer have been nothing short of miraculous.

an aspirant to the throne Synonyms

Whenever performed, this song elicits difficult emotions in the singerThis handbook elicited only negative reviews. The teacher elicits definitions from the students. Have you managed to elicit a response from them yet? The questionnaire

literary

ireful. cheeks flushed with ire

Thus unencumbered by weighty expectations, Smith was able to approach new music with a revitalized attitude, too.

A spokesman said the Bishop was a man of unimpeachable integrity and character.

He's got integrity to be our President for the next four years. Questions about financial integrity have been around since the start of the year.

a war of attrition. Stones can be smoothed and polished by attrition. The immensely hot weather resulted in the attrition of the forests

One by one the noblemen made their obeisances (= bent at the waist) to the queen.

Stoke mutiny. Conditions on the ship were often very bad, and crews were on the point of mutiny. There were rumours of mutiny among the troops.

He's been accused of stoking up racial hatred in the region. Once the fire had been stoked up, the room began to get warm. As it was a cold morning, she stoked up on bacon, eggs, and beans on toast.

We didn’t have much, but we never wanted for food. I don't want for my parents' love

I feel dizzy because of the waver of the weather.

Gun laws need to be revisited.

The police surmise (that) the robbers have fled the country. My surmise turned out to be right. The article is pure surmise and innuendo.

kingdom's environs

We coupled a dining car to the train. She coupled with you and you committed a sin.

Below in the courtyard the knights and men-at-arms and pages were already receiving the Queen’s message.

Our quarry should be somewhere in this forest. The quarry and all its mining rights shall belong to Shiring. They quarry marble here

a craven act of terrorism

The decorations in the house are in (perfect) keeping with her personality. In keeping with the overall design of the park, the playground will remain small

overextend yourself The fear of failure can lead young people to overextend themselves. Borrowers overextend themselves in refinancing to cover unforeseen expenses.

Some old-timers will tell you that the horse will grow better if you wait until he's older to geld him, but I've found this isn't the case ... the legislation was pretty much gelded by the time it was passed

It's very clement for the time of year.

Alone now and almost penniless, he was bereft of hope. After the last of their children had left home the couple felt utterly bereft.

He used bed rest, bleeding, poultices and 'blisters' as well as a variety of potions.

She invested into a bathrobe and went for a shower. Our troops have to invest them. Your moustache invests respect to you

The hours lapsed, but he wouldn't come. My membership in this club has already lapsed. There was only one lapse from this rule in the whole known history. In a momentary lapse, he allowed them to go to the party. There might have been a lapse in my

the horrible brazen voice of the fire bell He exhibited a brazen disregard for other people's feelings.

hew to old traditions

There are plans afoot to launch a new radio station.

We'd been up carousing till the early hours and were exhausted.

to examine something minutely

Silent and pale, she clutched (onto) her mother's hand. Clutching the money to his chest, he hurried to the bank. a fresh clutch of students

Now everything in her life points out the futility of hope. But in recent years, a sense of futility has developed.

a little girl in a pretty frock

The German leadership lauded the Russian initiative.

a droll remark/expression/person

I say that's enough of interminable infighting between us. an interminable delay his interminable stories

Instead, incredibly, shamefully, the board is paralyzed by a vicious infight.

Many motorcyclists flout the law by not wearing helmets. The orchestra decided to flout convention/tradition, and wear their everyday clothes for the concert.

She is to this day unabashed in her patriotism. He is an unabashed capitalist.

He was subjected to the most vicious calumny, but he never complained and never sued.

Strong men would wake healthy at the break of day and be dead by evenfall.

One by one she snuffed the candles.

In other words, what I said was not yet exhaustive. The list of these areas is by no means exhaustive.

The doctor said she had a seizure because of a head injury. Our ships will be just as liable to seizure as the French ones. The police has prepared for seizure of the escaped convict.

The software is used to trawl for information on the internet. You need to trawl through a lot of data to get results that are valid... They trawl these waters for cod. We did a wide trawl to find the right person to play the part.

She told him he was a lazy good-for-nothing and should get a job.

His young namesake, who duly appears a few numbers on, is evidently in no danger of suffering the fate of those tender babes

Stop dithering and choose which one you want! She's still dithering over whether to accept the job she's just been offered.

Some people will not eat raw fish out of squeamishness. He was known for his squeamishness, and allowed no talk of blood, the body, disease, or death. She's really squeamish and can't stand the sight of blood.

He was arrested at the airport with a kilo of heroin secreted in his clothing.

I need some time to confer with my lawyer. An honorary doctorate was conferred on him by Columbia University.

toil every day so you could have a good life. I'm exhausted because I have been toiling away a whole day.

Rather we value ourselves according to our honor and steadfastness.

I was surprised by her acquiescence to/in the plan. She nodded her acquiescence. She has a very acquiescent nature.

The newly built wall had no toeholds of any kind. fingerhold. used his money to get a toehold, then a foothold, then a near stranglehold on the political economy

The estate is owned by a wealthy dowager. the town's dowagers frequently shake their heads over the younger generation

a claimant to an estate. Claimants will need to fill out the appropriate paperwork.

set a powder keg on fire. whiskey keg

Ignore him - he's being lewd. a lewd suggestion. commission of a lewd act. lewdness

As far as health is concerned, it's a truism that prevention is better than cure.

The match will be televised live) on BBC Scotland

diffuse Lightning. diffuse pain. Right now, everything is so diffuse and no one seems to be responsible

You can use such sour milk, but if pasteurized milk goes wrong it becomes putrid and rancid and you cannot use it at all. go rancid

He concludes that they are largely groundless myths.

The cooper's house was so roomy that each guest had his separate retiring-room, to which they were ushered with all due ceremony, while the plentiful supper was in the act of being placed upon the table.

I used to collect a few churns of milk from my brother's farm to make cheese. The workers had to churn the sidewalk to get to the pipes. I've got lots of ideas churning in my head. The wheels would churn, but the car couldn't move.

An arm-reliquary was a casket in the form of a human arm and hand, though the relic inside was sometimes no more than a fragment

mortuary custom

The entire corpus of his works is available in our library.

Companies can be punished for making unsubstantiated claims about their products.

Before, he had always shirked work when it was possible. It seemed to her that she had shirked the hard work.

The squad made a sally against the enemy base. We made a sally to the seaside during summer holidays.

She's in thrall to her success.

The plants in their garden are wanton. I think that his aspirations are wanton. You are in a wanton mood today.

They exchanged confidences regarding her mother.

She pointed to the unstrung bow hanging beside her saddle.

It was all just the most blundering mistake."

The penis is usually in a flaccid state. The programme included a lacklustre and flaccid performance of Berg's violin concerto.

His plan depended on her pliancy and submission. the remarkable purity and pliancy of his voice

The past couple of weeks had been a giddy time. She was giddy and started to ask a million questions.

Pardon my imposition, but I need to speak with you urgently. Imposition of obedience is not the point of our discussion.

Why are you always prattling?

I do have a few minor niggles about the book, but generally it's very good. Don't you feel even a slight niggle about the morality of your experiments? She niggles endlessly over the exact pronunciation. One thought kept niggling at her.

We are now speeding along at 70mph and you feel the power

My constitution is fragile right now.

adrift. It has also been looking for someone to run the rudderless auction house

She's always grousing about how she's been treated by the management.

It will also continue to sap the energy and funds of many women's groups.

After a pause, he gave a studied answer. She listened to his remarks with studied indifference.

You are as I say, both venal and a fool.

The morass of rules and regulations is delaying the start of the project.

She was having a spat with her brother about who should do the washing up.

before this point in time. These findings strongly suggest that future research efforts may be profitably directed toward this heretofore underappreciated threat to children's adjustment.

you lying toad

He had expected trouble with them, excitement and fretfulness, but they were too tired for that.

When we arrived, the party was in full swing and the room was abuzz. The air was abuzz with military helicopters.

He doesn't live in a very salubrious part of town.

The door to the wheelhouse opened and a woman came out

The novel starts when a child of unknown parentage is left at the house of the local priest. She is of mixed Australian and Japanese parentage.

The debate on the consequence of the new law is taking place right now. Do you understand the consequence of your decision?

He would never countenance her having an association with one. We will not give countenance to any kind of terrorism. I cannot find any authority which lends countenance to that theory. The school will not countenance bad behaviour.

This scandal raises new questions about the president's private comportment. She had class, not in terms of wealth, but in terms of comportment, attitude and style. She comported herself with great dignity at her husband's funeral.

Certainly there's no gainsaying (= it is not possible to doubt) the technical brilliance of his performance.

I'd never live it down if Lily got wind of this"

a contrite apology/expression

My squad were on sentry duty last night.

Do you consider him a dependable employee? He seems very responsible and dependable

Economic privation is pushing the poor towards crime. Several villages suffered serious privations during their long isolation during the war.

I'm sure she'll help you - she's always very accommodating. acquiescent

The report criticizes the government's sloth in tackling environmental problems.

Our house has the original scullery.

She rebuffed all suggestions that she should resign.

This situation has all the trappings of an armed conflict

He regards the political process with disdain. The older musicians disdain the new, rock-influenced music. There were complaints that he disdained to mingle with the common people