Phrasal Verbs 901-974
901.
|
top … off
top out
top ... up
|
To complete something with one last act,
e.g. They decide to top off the day’s session with a meal at
a restaurant.
To fill up a partly full tank with fuel.
To reach an upper limit, e.g. No one
knows if oil price has topped out.
To add more drink to one’s glass or mug.
To add to an amount, etc. to bring it up
to a required level.
To fill up a partly full container.
|
902.
|
toss off
toss … off
|
To produce something quickly and
effortlessly, e.g. He can toss off a simple meal within
minutes.
To drink something rapidly or all at
once.
To masturbate.
|
903.
|
tot … up
|
To total up amounts, numbers, etc, e.g.
She totted up the bill with the use of a calculator.
|
904.
|
total … up
|
To find the total of something such as
amounts, numbers, etc. by adding, e.g. He totaled up the
bill without using a calculator.
|
905.
|
touch at
touch down
touch … for
touch ... off
touch on/upon
touch ... up
|
(Ship) to call briefly at a port.
(Aircraft, etc.) to land on the ground.
To ask someone to lend or give one
something, especially money.
To cause something to happen suddenly,
e.g. A cut in personal income tax touched off rumours of an
impending general election.
To mention or refer briefly to a subject
when talking, writing, etc.
To improve something by doing something
to it.
To stroke someone gently without their
consent for sexual pleasure.
|
906.
|
toy with
|
To think of something for a short while
and not seriously, e.g. He has been toying with the idea of
working overseas.
|
907.
|
track … down
|
To find someone or something that one has
been searching very hard for, e.g. The police finally managed to track
down the vandal.
|
908.
|
trade … in
trade ... off
trade on/upon
|
To use a used article, especially a car,
as part payment for another, e.g. He traded his car in for
a newer one.
To counterbalance an action against
another in order to produce a satisfactory result, e.g. They have to trade
off the cost of new machinery to step up production against the
possibility of production not being able to meet the demand.
To take advantage of someone or
something.
|
909.
|
traffic in
|
To deal in illegal goods, especially
drugs.
|
910.
|
treat of
treat with
|
(Book, article, etc.) to be about a
particular subject.
To negotiate an official agreement with
someone.
|
911.
|
trespass on
|
To take advantage of someone or
something.
|
912.
|
trick … into
|
To deceive someone into doing something,
e.g. I was tricked into parting with one hundred pounds by a
so-called friend.
|
913.
|
trim off
|
To cut small irregular or unwanted parts
or edges off something to make it neater.
|
914.
|
trip up
|
To make or cause one to make a mistake,
e.g. The questions are designed to trip you up.
To cause someone to fall by blocking his
foot with yours while he is walking.
|
915.
|
trot … out
|
To use same excuses, reasons, etc.
repeatedly, e.g. He trots out the same excuses whenever he
is late.
|
916.
|
truckle to
|
To be or behave excessively obedient to
someone.
|
917.
|
trump … up
|
To falsely accuse someone of something.
|
918.
|
trust in
trust to
trust … with
|
To have faith in someone or something.
To commit someone or something to the
protective care or guardianship of someone or something else.
To have faith in someone to do something.
|
919.
|
try for
try … on
try ... out
try out for
|
To attempt to achieve or get what one
desires.
To put on something to see if it fits or
suits one, e.g. Have you counted how many dresses she has tried on?
So many and yet she hasn’t decided on any.
To test the suitability or effectiveness
of something or someone by using or testing them, e.g. He tried out the
new car to experience its performance before deciding whether or not to buy
it. / They tried him out to see if he could
do the job.
To put oneself forward for selection for
a particular role.
|
920.
|
tuck … away
tuck in
tuck into
tuck ... up
|
To put someone or something in a quiet,
concealed or secure place.
To eat a lot quickly and in an enjoyable
way.
To eat in an enjoyable manner.
To conceal the edge of a piece of
clothing in something, e.g. tuck in one’s shirt.
To eat something eagerly.
To arrange bedclothes around someone,
especially a child, in bed.
|
921.
|
tucker out
|
To become or make someone very tired.
|
922.
|
tune in
tune out
tune … up
|
To watch or listen to a television or
radio broadcast.
To ignore or stop listening or paying
attention to someone or something.
To bring something to the most efficient
condition.
|
923.
|
turf … out
|
To get rid of someone or something.
|
924.
|
turn against
turn … against
turn around
turn away
turn back
turn down
turn in
turn into
turn off
turn on
turn out
turn over
turn ... over
turn to
turn up
|
To oppose someone or disagree with
something.
To incite someone to oppose someone else
or to disagree with something.
To revive something, especially a
company, e.g. The new manager was able to turn the
company around in less than two years.
To make to face opposite direction, e.g.
I thought someone was following me, and I turned around to
see who it was.
To refuse someone entry to a place such
as a stadium, etc. because it is full.
To return, e.g. We had to turn
back halfway through the journey because of extreme heavy rain and
flooding.
To reduce the level of what something is
producing or doing, e.g. Every day he has to be told to turn the
television down.
To reject someone’s proposal, suggestion,
offer, etc., e.g. She has turned down his marriage proposal
for the tenth time.
To go to bed, e.g. We have to turn
in now in order to wake up early.
To inform the police the whereabouts of a
criminal, e.g. His guilty conscience has certainly played the chief part in
making the murderer turn himself in.
To return something, stolen or missing,
etc., to the police or its owner.
To give something, especially a completed
piece of work, to someone who requested it, e.g. At the end of an
examination, we have to turn in our exam papers to the
person in charge.
To change someone into someone else, e.g.
The parents tried unsuccessfully to turn their son into a
teacher like them as the son believed he was not made for it.
To change something into something else,
e.g. The freezer has turned water into ice.
To do something repulsive or boring, e.g.
His frequent picking of the nose turnhis friends off.
To end the supply or operation of
something such as water, television, etc. by turning the tap, switch, etc.,
e.g. The tap is dripping, can you turn it off tight?
To leave one road and drive into another,
e.g. We have to turn off at the next exit to reach our
destination.
To start the supply or operation of
something such as water, television, etc. by turning the tap, switch, etc.,
e.g. Someone turned the television on and
nobody is watching it.
To suddenly attack or vent one’s anger on
someone, e.g. I’m not responsible for the rumour about her, so why is
she turning on me?
To excite or stimulate someone,
especially sexually, e.g. Some guys are easily turned on by a
woman who is busty.
To make someone interested in something,
e.g. He was the one who turned me on to
that excellent documentary.
To produce an unexpected result, e.g.
It turned out that he was my classmate at college.
To go somewhere to do something, e.g.
Many turn out to cast their votes because of the fine
weather.
To expel someone from a place, e.g.
They turned him out of the lecture hall for
his disruptive behaviour.
To put out an electric light by pushing a
switch etc., e.g. He turns out the light and closes his eyes
to sleep.
To produce something, e.g. The new
machine turns out twice as many units as the previous one.
To turn upside down, e.g. The car swung
around the bend at a great speed and turned over.
To hand someone to the police, e.g. The
villagers turn the wanted man over to the
police.
To hand something to the police or its
rightful owner, e.g. We found a wallet and turned it over to
the police.
To give someone the ownership of or
responsibility for something, e.g. He is slowly turning the
business over to his son as he anticipates his retirement.
To do an amount of business in a
particular period, e.g. That company has been turning over $4
million a year for the past five years.
To change television channels, e.g. Can
you turn over to the other channels and see what they have?
To get help, advice, etc. from someone,
e.g. He turned to a consultant for advice on management of
his business.
To go to a particular page in a book,
e.g. The students are asked to turn topage 13.
To suddenly appear after having been lost
or searched unsuccessfully for, e.g. The villagers were shocked to suddenly
see the long missing man turn up at the market.
To arrive somewhere, e.g. The
politician turned up at a public rally late as usual.
To search thoroughly for something, e. g.
They searched every inch of the area for the murder weapon and more evidence,
but nothing new turned up.
To increase the volume, heat, power, etc.
of television, oven, air-conditioner, etc., e.g. This is the third time
you turn up the television, can you see that I’m reading?
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925.
|
urge … on
|
To encourage someone or something to
continue to do something.
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926.
|
use up
|
To consume or expend the whole of
something, e.g. I bought a bottle of brake oil and someone used it up.
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927.
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vamp … up
|
To improve something such as making a
story more exciting by modifying it.
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928.
|
venture on/upon
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To do something that involves risks.
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929.
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verge on/upon
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To be very close or similar to, e.g. His
behaviour sometimes verges on madness.
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930.
|
vest … with
|
To give someone the legal right to power,
property, etc.
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931.
|
visit … on
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To punish someone.
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932.
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wad … up
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To compress soft material such as paper,
cloth, etc. into a small lump.
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933.
|
wade in
wade through
|
To intervene or become involved in
something.
To read or deal laboriously with a lot of
boring papers or written work.
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934.
|
wait around
wait behind
wait on
wait ... out
wait up
|
To stay where one is and do nothing until
an expected event occurs, such as the person one waits for arrives, etc.
To stay back until all the others have
left.
To attend to or serve food to someone,
especially customers in a restaurant.
To wait for something to end, e.g. We had
to stay back in college where we waited out the heavy rain.
To await the return of someone, e.g.
She waited up for her husband’s return so they could go to
the cinema together.
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935.
|
wake up
wake up to
|
To come out or be caused to come out of a
sleep, e.g. He uses two alarm clocks to wake him up every
morning.
To become aware or alert to what goes on,
e.g. More and more people are waking up to the reality of
climate warming.
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936.
|
walk all over
walk away
walk away with
walk in
walk into
walk off
walk off with
walk away with
walk over
walk out
walk out on
|
To treat someone thoughtlessly and
unfairly.
To move from and not get involved in a
dispute, bad situation, etc.
To win something, e.g. She walks
away with the first prize in tonight’s contest.
To enter a place such as a building,
etc., especially unexpectedly or uninvited.
To move into something quickly and hard,
e.g. He walked into a glass door and slightly hurt himself.
To leave someone by moving away from
them.
To take along one’s winning, e.g.
She walks off happily with the first prize
money.
To steal something secretly and quietly,
e.g. Someone walked away with the marble statue at the party
without anyone noticing it.
To take advantage of or treat someone
badly, e.g. He allows others to walk all over him
by not defending his rights.
To go outside.
To leave a place suddenly or angrily,
especially because one is unhappy over something.
To go on strike.
To leave one’s spouse, e.g. She walked
out on her husband after discovering he has a lover.
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937.
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wall … in
wall … off
wall … up
|
To enclose an area with walls.
To separate an area from another by
building a wall.
To turn a window, doorway, etc. into a
wall by filling it with bricks, cement, etc.
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938.
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waltz off with
waltz through
|
To take something deliberately without
permission or unintentionally, e.g. He waltzed off with the receptionist’s
pen after using it.
To do something such as an exam, test,
etc. very well and with ease, e.g. She waltzed through her final examination
with flying colours.
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939.
|
want for
|
To not have something desirable or
essential.
|
940.
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ward … off
|
To prevent someone or something from
harming one, e.g. He warded off every blow from his opponent in a martial art
contest.
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941.
|
warm to
warm up
warm up to
|
To become more interested in or
enthusiastic about someone or something, especially someone whom one has just
met.
(Food, house, etc) to make warm or warmer
by reheating it.
To make engine, etc. reach a required
temperature for it to be operational, e.g. I usually warm up the car before I
drive it.
To prepare one’s body for a physical
activity, e.g. warming up before a race by doing light stretching exercises.
To become more interested in or
enthusiastic about someone or something, especially someone whom one has just
met.
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942.
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warn against
warn … off
|
To advise someone against doing something
because it may have bad or dangerous consequences.
To advise or use threats to tell or order
someone to stay away or refrain from doing something.
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943.
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wash … down
wash ... off
wash ... out
wash up
|
To clean something large with plenty of
water, e.g. spent the whole afternoon washing down the garage.
To drink something to facilitate
swallowing, e.g. medicine, or food such as steak and chips, washed down with
plain water or red wine.
To clean something such as dirt, dust,
stain, etc. from a surface with water, e.g. Jack washed the dirt off his face
and hair after he fell headlong into a muddy drain.
To cause the postponement or cancellation
of something, especially a sport event, because of heavy rain, e.g. The
outdoor jumble sale was washed out by a sudden downpour.
To do the dishes after a meal, e.g. Now
whose turn is it to wash up?
To clean one’s hands and face, e.g. She
habitually washes up before she says her prayers.
To bring something up to the shore, e.g.
The waves washed up the dead body of an unknown creature on the beach.
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944.
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waste away
|
To become progressively and abnormally
weaker and thinner.
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945.
|
watch for
watch out
watch out for
watch over
|
To look out for something.
To be careful or to tell someone to be
careful, e.g. She ought to be careful when passing comments, which are always
highly critical of other people
To keep looking and waiting for someone
or something.
To be alert, e.g. watch out for strangers
loitering close to one’s house.
To guard or protect someone or something.
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946.
|
water … down
|
To make something less assertive or
controversial by modifying certain details, especially to achieve an
agreement.
|
947.
|
wave … aside
wave … down
wave … off
|
To disregard someone’s opinion, idea,
etc.
To hail the driver of a vehicle to stop.
To move one’s hand to signal goodbye to
someone as they leave.
|
948.
|
wean … off
wean .... on
|
To make someone give up a habit or
addiction, e.g. Some infants are weaned off their mothers’ milk as early as
at four months.
To be strongly influenced by something
from a very early age.
|
949.
|
wear away
wear down
wear off
wear on
wear out
|
To erode something.
To gradually worsen the condition of
something or someone, e.g. The stair carpet has worn down in places.
To overcome someone or something by
persistence, e.g. He is very secretive about his earnings, but gradually his
siblings wear him down.
To gradually lose the effectiveness or
intensity of something, e.g. pain, anaesthesia, the effects of drugs or
alcohol, novelty of a product, emotional feelings, etc. gradually wears off.
(Time) to pass very slowly.
To tire someone out completely, e.g.
Chasing and catching butterflies the whole afternoon has worn me out.
To become damaged by constant use, e.g.
My right shoe wears out faster then my left shoe.
|
950.
|
weed … out
|
To get rid of someone or something that
is longer effective.
|
951.
|
weigh … down
weigh in
weigh on
weigh ... out
weigh ... up
|
(Load, feelings, etc.) to weigh heavily
on someone, e.g. an employed person weighed down with frustration.
(Boxer or jockey) to be officially
weighed before or after a contest.
To be depressing or burdensome to
someone, e.g. Her incurable illness is beginning to weigh on her.
To measure an amount of something by
weight, e.g. The seller weighed out a kilogram of sugar and handed it over to
a customer.
To consider carefully the qualities,
importance, etc. of something before making a decision.
|
952.
|
wheel … out
|
To publicly introduce or display someone
or something for a specific purpose, e.g. A politician is very fond of having
famous personalities accompanying him in his election campaign.
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953.
|
whip through
whip up
|
To finish a job very quickly, e.g. He
whipped through the work faster than all the other workers combined.
To deliberately excite, stimulate a
particular feeling or provoke a reaction in someone, e.g. to whip up support
for someone.
To make something very quickly,
especially a meal.
|
954.
|
whisk … away/off
|
To take or remove something or someone
quickly from a place, e.g. On arrival at the airport, the foreign head of
state was whisked away.
|
955.
|
whittle …away/off
|
To gradually make or become smaller or
less in amount, degree, value, size, or weight, e.g. to whittle away the
powers or list of someone or something.
|
956.
|
wimp out
|
To cowardly refrain from doing something.
|
957.
|
win … around
win … back
win out/through
win … over
|
To gain someone’s attention, support, or
love.
To regain what one had before, e.g. to
win back her love
To manage to succeed or achieve something
by effort.
To gain someone’s support, attention or
favour
|
958.
|
wind down
wind up
|
To relax after working very hard.
To slowly lessen the activities of a
business or organization prior to its closure.
To close down a company or organization.
To end something such as a meeting,
activity, etc.
To deliberately annoy or tease someone.
To be in a bad situation one created,
e.g. to wind up in court over something one has committed.
|
959.
|
wink at
|
To pretend not to notice something bad or
illegal, especially something one tacitly approves.
|
960.
|
winkle … out
|
To obtain something from someone, e.g.
winkled secret information out of someone.
|
961.
|
wipe … down
wipe … off
wipe out
wipe up
|
To completely clean or dry a surface by
rubbing with a cloth.
To subtract an amount from a value or
debt.
To clean or dry by rubbing with a cloth,
e.g. He wiped droppings of birds off the windscreen of his car with a damp
cloth.
To completely destroy or eliminate
something, e.g. A gigantic swarm of locusts wiped out a huge area of crops
within hours.
To ruin someone financially, e.g. His
compulsive gambling over the years has wiped out his vast fortune.
To clean or dry something, e.g. He wiped
out the sweat on his forehead with a cloth.
To dry or remove moisture, dirt, etc.
from the surface of something, e.g. My sick dog vomited on the floor and I
had to wipe it all up.
|
962.
|
wise up
|
To become or make someone become alert or
aware of the unpleasant truth about a situation.
|
963.
|
wish away
wish for
|
To desire something unpleasant will not
happen.
To secretly want or desire something and
hope it will be realized.
|
964.
|
witness to
|
To state that something is true or that
one actually sees something happened, e.g. to be a witness to a person’s good
character or witnessed the accused loitering near the scene of the murder.
|
965.
|
work … in
work … off
work on
work out
work ... over
work up
work up to
|
To try to include something, e.g. to put
washing his car in his list of things to do.
To reduce one’s frustration by venting it
on others.
To discharge a debt by working.
To be engaged in doing something, e.g. He
spent the whole night working on his research paper.
To calculate something, e.g. have to work
out how much they can afford for a new house.
To think about something and solve it,
e.g. He managed to work it out without help from anyone.
To understand someone’s character, e.g.
No one seems able to work out why he behaves this way every time he gets back
from work.
To plan carefully about doing something,
e.g. I have worked out who is going to do what in this project.
To develop in a positive way, e.g. Things
begin to work out for them and they find they are happier together.
To engage oneself in a programme of
regular exercises, e.g. He works out twice a week in a gymnasium.
To beat someone up repeatedly.
To develop a state of excitement,
anxiety, etc. over something, e.g. He works himself up into a state of
anxiety about his forthcoming first job interview.
To develop or improve something by
putting in hard effort, e.g. He intends to work up some findings to support a
ban on animal research.
To develop a feeling, e.g. Whenever she
thinks of him, it really works up her anger and hatred.
To proceed gradually towards doing
something, e.g. I don’t want to do it but I am still working up to it because
it has to be done.
|
966.
|
worry at/out
|
To think at length about a possible
solution to a problem.
|
967.
|
wrap up
|
To completely cover up something with
wrapping paper, cloth, etc., e.g. to wrap up a birthday present.
To put on warm clothes, e.g. If we know
it’s freezing in here, we would have wrapped up warm.
To be engrossed in something, e.g. Work
wraps up all his attention that he hardly has time to socialize.
To complete or finish something, e.g.
They wrapped up their week-long piece of research work with a leisurely
drink.
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968.
|
wriggle out of
|
To avoid doing something by devious
means.
|
969.
|
write back
write ... down
write in
write into
write off
|
To reply to someone’s letter, e.g. My
grandpa is always prompt in writing back.
To jot something down on a piece of paper
for later use, e.g. I wrote down her telephone number on my business card.
To write to an organization, etc. for a
purpose, e.g. to write in asking for more information, to complain, to give
one’s view or to comment as requested, etc.
To include someone’s name in the list of
candidates in order to vote for them.
To include something in something else
such as a document, agreement, etc., e.g. I requested him to have my
occupation written into the document.
To dismiss someone or something as a
failure, unnecessary, unimportant, etc., e.g. Some observers have written it
off as another white elephant.
To decide an asset no longer has any
value, e.g. The management agreed the machines that were badly damaged in the
fire should be written off.
To cancel bad debts or possible bad
debts, e.g. Some of the poor nations’ debts were written off as apparently
they were unable to settle them.
|
970.
|
x out
|
To mark out a mistake in a piece of
writing.
|
971.
|
yield … up
|
To gradually give out more information,
e.g. The ocean depths yield up more and more information as exploration is
stepped up.
|
972.
|
zero in on
|
To focus all of one’s attention on
someone or something.
To aim a gun towards someone or
something.
|
973.
|
zip up
|
To fasten a piece of clothing with a zip,
e.g. I have to change my trousers as I cannot zip up; the zipper jammed.
|
974.
|
zoom in/out
|
(Camera) to change from a picture that is
close to one that is distant or vice versa.
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Phrasal Verbs
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