Phrasal Verbs 501-600
501.
|
loose … on/upon
|
To allow something dangerous and
destructive to begin to affect a situation or other people.
|
502.
|
loosen up
|
To warm up the body, especially the
muscles and joints, in preparation for a physical activity.
|
503.
|
lop … off
|
To cut off, especially a branch or limb,
from a tree or body.
To make a slight reduction in a price or
charge.
|
504.
|
lose out
|
To fail to get something, e.g. to lose
out on a job, business contract, etc. which go to a rival.
|
505.
|
louse up
|
To spoil, or to do something badly, or to
make something worse.
|
506.
|
luck out
|
To succeed due to good luck, e.g. We both
bought lottery tickets and he, not me, lucked out when he discovered he hit
the jackpot.
|
507.
|
lump … together
|
To combine into an indiscriminate mass or
group.
|
508.
|
lust after
|
To feel strong sexual desire for someone
or something.
|
509.
|
luxuriate in
|
To relax and consciously enjoy something.
|
510.
|
magic … away
magic … up
|
To use magic to make someone or something
disappear.
To make something appear suddenly and
unexpectedly.
|
511.
|
make after
make away with
make for
make ... into
make ... of
make off
make off with
make out
make ... out
make ... over
make up
make ... up
|
To pursue someone or something.
To steal something, e.g. The
thieves made away with a safe.
To kill someone or something.
To move towards someone or something,
e.g. We made for the railway station as quickly as we could.
To have a particular result or make
something possible, e.g. Proper training makes for smooth
operation of the machinery.
To change the form or purpose of
something, e.g. Jack planned to make the attic into a
study.
To change someone’s character, etc., e.g.
A road accident has made him into a careful
driver.
To express an opinion of something, e.g.
We do not know what to make of the ultimate consequences of
climate warming.
To use opportunities to achieve an
outcome, e.g. I want to make use of whatever
money I have for my higher education.
To give someone a new job or position in
a group, organization, etc., e.g. He was madecaptain of the
team.
To leave hurriedly.
To take something away illegally, e.g.
he made off with my bicycle while I was not looking.
To manage with difficulty to see, etc.,
e.g. On that foggy night the driver could barely make out what
was in front of him until his car rammed into it.
To issue payment by means of a cheque,
e.g. He makes a cheque out in favour of one
of his creditors.
To have sufficient evidence to effect a
conviction, e.g. The police feel they have made out a case
to charge the culprit.
To have individual opinions on something
or someone, e.g. The horror movie is not as scary as you made it out to
be.
To survive a difficult situation, e.g.
His wife has run away, he will make out somehow.
To find good reasons to prove or explain
something, e.g. The police believe they have made out a
strong case against the accused.
To give money or legally transfer
ownership of property to someone else, e.g. His father made over the
whole factory to his son.
To change one’s own appearance with
cosmetics, hairstyling, new clothes, etc.
To be reconciled after a quarrel, etc.,
e.g. They make up every now and then after an angry argument
or disagreement.
To make a choice, e.g. I haven’t made
up my mind to give up smoking or lose weight, or do both at the same
time.
To improve one’s appearance, e.g. The
regular use of cosmetics has made her up much
younger than her actual age.
To invent a story, etc. in order to
deceive someone, e.g. He made a fictional happening up to
escape punishment.
To add an amount that is enough for a
particular purpose, e.g. I don’t have enough money to buy her a birthday
present, so I borrowed to make up the difference.
|
512.
|
map … out
|
To plan a course of action carefully.
|
513.
|
mark … down
mark ... off
mark ... up
|
To write something down in order to keep
a record.
To reduce the indicated price of an item.
To judge someone to be a potential
leader, etc.
To reduce the marks awarded to a
candidate or for their work, e.g. He was marked down as his
work has missed the point by not understanding the main meaning of the
questions.
To isolate an area such as a building,
road, etc. by putting a rope, tape, cones, etc. around it, e.g. the murder
scene has been marked off with police tape.
To tick off items on a list for a
purpose, e.g. She has marked off the items that she has
already bought.
To distinguish someone from others, e.g.
Her ability to debate in class has marked her off as
a potential representative debater of her school.
To increase the profit margin, e.g. Cell
phones may be marked up by as much as 60%.
|
514.
|
marry into
marry … off
|
To become a member of a family by
marriage, e.g. She married into a very wealthy family.
To look for a spouse for someone, e.g.
They married her off to the first young man who came along.
|
515.
|
match up
match … up
|
To match a report, piece of information,
etc. with another to see of they are the same.
To find something that is similar to or
suitable for something else.
|
516.
|
max out
|
To do something with as much effort and
determination as one can.
|
517.
|
measure against
measure … off
measure ... out
measure up
|
To judge someone or something by
comparing them with another person or thing.
To measure the required amount of
material and cut it off a larger piece.
To take out a certain amount of liquid,
powder, etc. from a larger quantity.
To determine whether one is good enough
for a particular job, position, etc., e.g.The new manager has not measured
up to his responsibilities.
|
518.
|
meet up
meet with
|
To come and do something together, e.g.
We used to meet up on weekend to go fishing.
To mutually agree to come face to face
for a purpose.
To have a particular reaction to
something, e.g. The star’s emergence from a car was met with a
loud cheer.
|
519.
|
melt down
|
To heat metal until it becomes liquefied
and reuse it, e.g. His hobbies include melting down unwanted metal objects to
make souvenirs for sale.
|
520.
|
mess around/about
mess around with
mess up/mess … up
mess with
|
To behave in a silly way that lacks
purpose.
To cause problems for someone.
To have an affair with someone that one
should not have.
To make something dirty or untidy, e.g.
The puppies have really messed up the sitting room.
To interfere with something and turn it
into a confused state, e.g. I’ve arranged my CDs in alphabetical order, but
someone has messed it up.
To handle a situation wrongly or
ineffectively, or to spoil something.
To ruin one’s own personal life, e.g. She
feels she has messed up her whole life by running up massive
credit card debts.
To get involved in or interfere with
something or someone.
|
521.
|
mete … out
|
To dispense justice, punishment, etc. to
someone.
|
522.
|
mike … up
|
To equip someone with a microphone so
that his voice can be made louder.
|
523.
|
militate against
|
To stop something from happening or stop
someone from doing something
|
524.
|
mill around/about
|
(A lot of people) to move around a place
in different directions.
|
525.
|
minister to
|
To attend to the needs of someone.
|
526.
|
minor in
|
To study a subsidiary subject in addition
to the main one.
|
527.
|
miss out
|
To fail to use an opportunity to do
something enjoyable.
To fail to include someone or something,
e.g. to miss out some punctuation marks in one’s essay.
|
528.
|
mist over
mist up
|
(Eyes) to become filled with tears.
To become covered with tiny water
droplets or condensed vapour, e.g. one’s glasses have misted up.
|
529.
|
mistake for
|
To wrongly identify someone or something
as someone or something else, e.g. mistook a cheetah for a
leopard.
|
530.
|
mix … up
|
To confuse someone or something with
someone or something else, e.g. The teacher often mixes him up with
his twin brother.
To combine two or more things together,
e.g. A good way to mix the ingredients up thoroughly
is to use an electric mixer.
To disrupt the order or arrangement of
something, e.g. He unknowingly mixed up those arranged
papers which are not numbered, and now they have to sort and rearrange them.
To become confused or make someone feel
confused, e.g. They really mixed me up, telling
me different stories about the same person.
|
531.
|
mock … up
|
To replicate or imitate something.
|
532.
|
monkey around
monkey with
|
To behave in a silly, careless or playful
way, e.g. The children monkey around in the park and cause
damage to some of the exotic plants.
To tamper with something without
authority or the required skill, e.g. My kid monkeyed around with
my cell phone and now it can’t make any call.
To interfere with something so as to
cause damage.
|
533.
|
mooch around/about
|
To move around without any apparent
purpose.
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534.
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moon about/around
moon over
|
To spend time in a relaxed, lazy manner.
To miss and long for someone.
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535.
|
mop … up
|
To wipe or soak up liquid with a mop,
cloth, etc. from a surface.
To complete or put an end to something by
dealing with the remaining parts.
|
536.
|
mope around/about
|
To feel sad or dispirited.
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537.
|
mount up
|
To gradually increase in size or amount.
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538.
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mouth off
|
To talk in a conceited way.
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539.
|
move along
move away
move in
move into
move off
move on
move out
move to
move over
move up
|
To go further to the front or back of
something.
To change one’s place of residence.
To start living with someone, e.g.
Jill moved inwith her boyfriend
despite her parents' objection.
To start living in a place, e.g. Jack and
Jill are planning to move into a rural area of the country
for some peace and quiet.
(Vehicle or crowd) to start to move away.
To carry on with one’s journey.
To start talking a new part of the
subject under discussion or start talking a new subject.
To stop living in a place in order to
live somewhere else, e.g. We are looking for a house somewhere and move
out of our apartment.
To shift someone or something out of a
place, e.g. The villagers move their belongings to higher
ground in anticipation of a flood.
To shift position and so create more
space for others.
To get a promotion in the place where one
works.
|
540.
|
mow … down
|
To kill a large group of people at one
time by shooting them.
To recklessly knock someone down with a
car.
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541.
|
muck about/around
muck around with
muck in
muck ... out
muck ... up
|
To behave in a silly way without purpose.
To spoil something by interfering with
it.
To share accommodation or tasks with
others in order to complete a job
To clean a place, especially where an
animal lives, e.g. to muck a stable.
To spoil a plan.
To fail to achieve something.
To dirty a place or something such as
one’s clothes, etc.
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542.
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muddle along
muddle through
muddle … up
|
To engage aimlessly in an activity.
To cope satisfactorily with something
despite not having the know-how.
To confuse two or more things with each
other.
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543.
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mug up
|
To study intensively in preparation for
an examination.
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544.
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mull … over
|
To think and consider about something at
length.
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545.
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muscle in
|
To force one’s way into another’s affairs
to gain control.
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546.
|
nail … down
|
To elicit a firm commitment from someone.
To decide or identify something
precisely.
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547.
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narrow down
|
To reduce, e.g. In the second round, the
number of finalists will be narrowed down to five.
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548.
|
nibble away at
|
To keep taking small amounts out of a
large amount.
|
549.
|
nip … off
|
To remove something by pinching or
squeezing tightly between finger and thumb.
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550.
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nod off
|
To begin to fall asleep.
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551.
|
nose … out
|
To discover something after a long
search.
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552.
|
notch … up
|
To achieve something such as a victory,
total, score, etc.
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553.
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number off
|
(Soldiers) to call out their number when
their turn comes.
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554.
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occur to
|
(Thought, idea, etc) to come into the
mind.
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555.
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open up
|
(Crack, hole, etc.) to appear and become
wider.
To begin shooting with a weapon, e.g. The
gangsters opened up with small arms, but all of them were
soon shot dead by the police.
(Land) to make it available for
development, e.g. The developer is opening up a jungle area
for a housing project.
(Office, shop, cinema, etc.) to begin
operation, e.g. The new cinema is expected to open upsoon.
(Box, container, etc.) to remove or
unfasten the cover, e.g. She opened up her jewellery box and
showed us the contents.
(Door, window, etc.) to make them open,
e.g. The supermarket here opens up at 10:00 every day.
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556.
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opt out
|
To decide not to participate in a group,
activities, etc.
To avoid performing a duty.
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557.
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order … about
order ... out
|
To use one’s power or authority to tell
someone to do something.
To deploy soldiers, police, etc. for a
particular action such as crowd control, dealing with natural disaster, etc.
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558.
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own up
|
To admit to having done something wrong
or embarrassing.
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559.
|
pack … away
pack … in
pack ... off
pack up
|
To put something back in its box, case,
container, etc.
To cram a lot of things into a space,
place, period of time, etc.
To send someone away.
To stop working or close early in
business.
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560.
|
pad … out
|
To lengthen a speech or piece of writing
with unnecessary material.
|
561.
|
page through
|
To turn over the pages of a book,
magazine, etc. and read them quickly or casually.
|
562.
|
paint … in
paint … out
paint … over
|
To make additional painting to a picture.
To erase something with paint so that it
is no longer visible.
To cover something with new paint.
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563.
|
pair off
pair up
|
To become or form a couple.
To form a couple to work together or
start a relationship.
|
564.
|
pal around
pal up
|
To go around or do things together with a
friend or with someone as a friend.
To form a friendship with someone.
|
565.
|
palm off
|
To sell someone something by deceiving
them.
|
566.
|
pan out
|
To end up in a particular way.
|
567.
|
pander to
|
To give or allow oneself to enjoy the
desired pleasure of an immoral habit.
|
568.
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pant for
|
To long for or to do something.
|
569.
|
parcel … out
parcel …off
parcel … up
|
To separate something into parts and hand
them out.
To separate something into parts for
sale.
To make something into a parcel by
wrapping it.
|
570.
|
pare … down
|
To make or become less, or reduce
gradually.
|
571.
|
part with
|
To unwillingly hand over possession of
something to someone else.
|
572.
|
partake of
|
To have certain characteristic.
|
573.
|
partition … off
|
To divide or separate a room, floor, etc.
into parts by erecting a structure such as a light interior wall, etc.
|
574.
|
partner up/off
|
To become or make people become partners.
|
575.
|
pass around
pass away
pass by
pass ... down
pass for
pass off
pass on
pass out
pass over
pass up
|
To offer something to each member of a
group.
To hand something over from one person to
the next in a group.
To die.
To go past someone or something.
To hand over something such as knowledge,
traditions, etc. to people who are younger, those who live after one, to the
next generation, etc.
To be mistaken as someone else, e.g. with
her dressing she could have passed for a wealthy woman.
To try to deceive someone that someone
else or something is much better, e.g. trying to passthese fake
watches off as genuine.
To give something such as information,
message, disease, etc. to someone else.
To make consumers bear higher costs.
To faint.
To distribute.
To select someone instead of the expected
person for a promotion, etc.
To fail to make use of something such as
an opportunity, etc.
|
576.
|
patch … together
patch … up
|
To make something hastily from different
components.
To restore friendly relations after a
quarrel or dispute.
To repair damage to something.
To treat someone’s injuries.
|
577.
|
pay … back
pay for
pay ... for
pay in/into
pay off
pay out
pay up
|
To settle one’s debt with someone, e.g.
He is always slow in paying back the money he owes.
To pay back with something bad, e.g. Jack
swore he would pay Jill back for what she
did to him.
To give someone money in exchange for
something, e.g. He paid for his new car in cash.
To suffer the consequences of one’s
actions or be punished for them, e.g. He’ll pay the
price for habitually drinking excessively someday.
To put money in one’s bank account.
To settle the outstanding balance for
something, e.g. pay off the balance owing for purchase of a
car.
To produce good results.
To give someone money to keep quiet about
something such as an illegal act.
To dismiss someone with a final payment.
To hand over money, especially a large
sum, for something such as compensation, etc.
To settle or be forced to settle one’s
debts, e.g. I have already received their third legal letter demanding that I
pay up.
|
578.
|
peck at
|
To eat food slowly due to lack of hunger.
|
579.
|
peel off
|
To remove a thin outer layer of
something.
To take one’s clothes off.
To leave a moving group such as a convoy,
etc. by changing direction.
|
580.
|
peg away
peg out
|
To work hard over a long period.
To use pegs to fix wet clothes to a
washing line to dry.
To mark a piece of ground with wooden
sticks.
To die.
|
581.
|
pen … up/in
|
To keep an animal or animals in an
enclosed area or confine someone in a restricted space.
|
582.
|
pencil … in
|
To temporarily compile a list of
something that is subject to change later.
|
583.
|
pension … off
|
To terminate someone’s employment,
usually because they are officially considered too old to continue working,
and pay them a pension.
To dispose of something that is not
useful any more or outdated.
|
584.
|
pep … up
|
To make someone or something more active,
energetic or exciting.
|
585.
|
perk up
|
To make or become more cheerful or
lively.
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586.
|
pertain to
|
To be directly related or applicable to
something.
|
587.
|
peter out
|
To diminish or come to an end gradually.
|
588.
|
phase … in
phase ... out
|
To introduce something such as a law,
rule, etc. in gradual stages.
To gradually withdraw something from use.
|
589.
|
phone in
|
To telephone someone or a place such as
one’s workplace, a radio or television station, police station, etc.
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590.
|
pick at
pick ... off
pick on
pick ... out
pick over
pick through
pick up
|
To criticize someone in a petty way.
To pull something slightly and repeatedly
with one’s fingers.
To eat something taking small bites due
to lack of appetite.
To shoot people or animals one by one
from a distance.
To repeatedly single out someone for
unfair criticism or treatment, e.g. It does appear my teacher’s hobby
is picking only on me.
To choose someone or something from a
group, e.g. Despite the vast array of dresses on sale, she couldn’t pick
out any one she liked.
To examine a number of items and
carefully choose some.
To look carefully through a number of
items and select one.
To take something from a surface or
floor, e.g. to pick up something one has dropped.
To go somewhere and fetch someone; e.g.
I’m now on my way to pick up my child from school.
To find something by accident, e.g.
to pick up a purse, dropped by someone, from a pavement.
To learn a skill while working,
e.g. pick up the skill of baking while working at the
bakery.
To collect something form somewhere, e.g.
Remind me to pick up my clothes from the laundry on our way
home.
To go and buy something, e.g. I just
remember I’ve to pick up a magazine at the newsagent.
To acquire a skill, manner, etc., e.g.
Since when have you picked up the disgusting habit of
picking your nose?
To make an arrest, e.g. He was picked
up by the police for attempting to make an illegal entry into a
building.
To pay for something, e.g. His girlfriend’s
father picked up the tab for the sumptuous dinner.
To improve something, e.g. With an
improvement in the economy, sale of consumer goods is expected to pick
up.
To try to get someone of the opposite
sex, e.g. Jack attended the party hoping to pick up a girl,
but ended with none.
|
591.
|
piddle around
|
To spend time doing unnecessary thing.
|
592.
|
piece … together
|
To assemble all the facts or information
about a situation in order to form a suitable conclusion.
|
593.
|
pig out
|
To eat a large amount of food greedily.
|
594.
|
pile in/into
pile on
pile out
pile up
|
To get into a place, vehicle, etc. in a
disorganized manner.
To exaggerate something
To leave a place, vehicle, etc. in a
disorderly manner.
To make or become increasingly larger in
quantity or amount.
|
595.
|
pin … down
|
To make someone specific about their aim
or plan.
|
596.
|
pine for
|
To miss and long for someone or
something.
|
597.
|
pipe up
|
To say something suddenly, especially
after having been quiet all along.
|
598.
|
piss about/around
piss … away
piss off
piss … off
|
To spend time doing things aimlessly.
To waste something very stupidly.
To tell someone to go away.
To annoy someone very much, e.g. He
really pisses me off when he blows that flute out of tune for hours on end.
|
599.
|
pit … away
pit … out
|
To set something or someone in
competition with something or someone else.
To sweat profusely.
|
600.
|
pitch in
pitch into
pitch up
|
To work enthusiastically within a group
To attack someone physically or verbally.
To arrive at a particular place.
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Phrasal Verbs
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