OLYM 30/4: 3.6.25 (2)

peter out

phrasal verb

to gradually stop or disappear:

E.g. The fighting which started in the night had __________ by morning.

cushion the blow

idiom

to make a bad situation less serious:

E.g. He's lost his job, but the redundancy money will ____________.

grievous

adjective formal

having very serious effects or causing great pain:

E.g. Her death is a ______ loss to the whole of the community.

compensate

verb

to provide something good or useful in place of something or to make someone feel better about something that has failed or been lost or missed:

E.g. _________ for - Nothing will ever _____________ his lost childhood.

splash out (something)

phrasal verb

to spend a lot of money on buying things, especially things that are pleasant to have but that you do not need:

E.g. They ________ £3,000 on a holiday.

make amends

to do something good to show that you are sorry about something you have done:

E.g. She tried to ___________ by inviting him out to dinner.

descend from something

phrasal verb

to have developed from something that existed in the past:

E.g. All living creatures are thought to _________ an organism that came into being three billion years ago.

eke something out

phrasal verb

to use something slowly or carefully because you only have a small amount of it:

E.g. ______ a living - He managed to __________ (= earn just enough to live on) one summer by selling drinks on a beach.

anchor

verb

(1) to lower an anchor into the water in order to stop a boat from moving away

(2) to make something or someone stay in one position by fastening him, her, or it firmly:

We _________ ourselves to the rocks with a rope.

as an experiment

collocation

in order to find out what happens or what something is like:

e.g. Using art as a form of therapy was introduced to the prison as an ________.

span

→ attention/concentration span

He has a short _______________.

→ life span

an average _____ of 70 years

→ over a span of

_________ just three years, the new government has transformed the country's economic prospects.

abreast

adverb

(1) used to say that two or more people are next to each other and moving in the same direction:

e.g. We were running/swimming two ________.

e.g. The motorcyclist came ______ of her car and shouted abuse at her.
(2) If you keep abreast of a subject, you stay informed about new developments in it:
e.g. Staying __________ new software releases takes lots of time.

negligible

adjective

too slight or small in amount to be of importance:

e.g. The difference between the two products is _________.

until doomsday

collocation

for a very long time or forever:

e.g. You could talk ________, but they will never change their minds.

keep abreast of something

to make sure you know all the most recent facts about a subject or situation:

e.g. I try to ________ any developments.