RELATIONSHIPS

Phrasal verb Meaning Example

Fall in love Begin to love They met and fell madly in love.
get along Like each other, be friendly I don’t really get along with her
parents.
ask out Start romantic relatioonships He didn’t ask her out.
Go out with Have romantic relationships We have been going out for 6
months.
Fall out Have an argument We are not going out because we
have falle out.
Go for Like a person or a thing What type of women do you go for?
hang around with Spend time with somebody I got into smoking because I was
hanging around with wrong people.
Split up End a relationship They have just split up after a year
together.
break up End relationships They broke up last year.
Let down Disappointed by failing to do what I feel they have let me down.
has been expected to do
Make up Become friendly again Is there a way to persuade them to
make up and go out again?
 Family

Phrasal verbs Meaning Example

Grow up Change from being a child to being She grew up in a rich family.
an adult
Bring up Looking after a child and educating I find it hard to bring kids up.
them until they are adults

Name after Give a similar name We decided to name him after my

father.
Take after Have a similar appearance or He has bluee veyes so he takes
character after his mom.
carry on continue He carried on asking her out.
 HOMES
Phrasal verbs Meaning Example
Move out Stop living in a particular house They want to move out tomorrow.

Move in Begin living in a new house A new family has moved in to the
house next door.
Move in together Start living in the same house We decided to move in together when
got a new job because we havealways
been good friends.
put somebody up Let someone stay in your home Could you put me up when I am in
your city?
Ask round Invite to come to your house I’d like to ask you round.
Come over Visit somebody at their house Would you like to come over to our
place next week?
Have somebody around Somebody comes to your house It will be nice to have them around.

Do up To decorate/repair a house I want to buy a run-down house and

do it up.
Put in To fix a large piece of equipment I’ve just had a fridge put in.
 Clothes
Verbs Meaning Example
Put something on To dress yourself or someone else with an item I need to put my dress on.
or items of clothing

Take something off To remove a piece of clothing Charlie was taking off his shirt when the
phone rang.
Try something on To put on an item of clothing to find out She always tried shoes on before she bought
whether it fits or is suitable them.

Get dressed Become dressed He got up and got dressed.

Wear out To use an item until it is no longer in good I wore out my boots. I need to buy a new
condition pair soon.
Dress up Put on different clothes to look smarter than He went to the party dressed up as a Chicago
usual gangster
Be out of stock not available to buy in We are out of stock of
a store because they have all that particular item
been sold
Do up To fasten an item of clothing Do up your coat or you’ll get cold.
Kick off To remove your shoes quickly She kicked off her shoes.
Go with Suit each other Those shoes go with your dress.
Take in To make an item of clothing smaller/ more You lost weight, and your dress doesn’t fit. I’ll
narrow have to take it in.
 SHOPPING
Verbs Meaning Example
Bring down Reduce the amount of something We want to bring down prices on all our clothes.
Pay for Give money in order to buy something I paid good money for that sofa, so it should last.
Line/queue up Wait for something in a line Some people queued up all night to get in the store.
Ring up Record an amount of money by pressing buttons on a cash She rang up all the items on the till.
register
Sell out Sell the whole supply/ capacity Wee have sold these boots out.
Shop around Compare prices before buying We often shop around for the best deal.
Try out Test something to see if you like it Mark wants to try out his new running shoes this weekend.

Cash up Count all the money taken in a shop or business at the end of fter the shop closed, they have to cash up before they can go
the day home.
Zip around Move quickly from place to place Jenny was in a hurry so she zipped around the supermarket.

Take back return We took this bag back.

Come up with Think of We'll think about a present for her and see what we can come
up with.
Blow on Spend money in a foolish way If you keep blowing your money on stupid things, you'll
never be able to go to university.
Look around Shop without a plan I’m just looking around.
Take up To start something I’m not very good at golf – I only took it up recently
Turn down refuse They offered to pay for me but I turned them down politely.
 Food
Verbs Meaning Example

Go off Become not good to eat I opened the fridge to make sure it
hadn’t gone off.
Put on Begin to cook She put the chicken on.
Heat up Make something hot She heated the soup up.
Boil over Flow over the side of the pan My coffee boiled over.
Hand round offer She handed round suchi.
Top-up Add more drink He went round topping-up glasses
Take away Buy prepared food She ordered pizza to take away.
Eat out Have a meal in the cafe We ate out yesterday
cut down on eat or drink less of something, often for I’m trying to cut down on
health reasons the amount of sugar I eat
Eat up to eat all the food that you have been Matt, eat up. I don’t want you to
given, to eat until everything is finished. leave out broccoli again, it’s good
for you.
peel off To remove the skin/rind/outer covering She peeled the skin off the apples
of fruit/vegetables etc. for the fruit salad.
 Health
Verbs Meaning Example

Come down with Become sick (not seriously) I think I’m coming down with the flu.
Work out Train the body by physical exercise I work out regularly to keep fit.
Let up Become less strong or stop A cold continues at its peak for several
days, then it gradually let up.
Get over recover I’m fine now. I think I finally got over my
sickness, my illness.
Shake off to get rid of (illness) I hope I can shake this flu off by the time
of the wedding.
Block up Become filled I’ve got a blocked-up nose
Go down with Become ill I am going down with a flu.
Care for Look after I wll care for you.
Slow down Become less active He has slowed down a lot.
Swell up gets bigger than normal because of fluid My ankle swelled up like a ballon when I
accumulating under the skin. sprained it.
Pull through the person will continue living and will The doctors say that she will pull
not die through.
 Verbs
FREE TIME ACTIVITIES Meaning Example

Get into to become interested in something I first got into yoga when my best friend encouraged me to
try it to help me feel less stressed.

Keep up to continue doing something I used to play badminton 2 or 3 times a week in my

twenties, but it was difficult to keep it up after I had
children.

Give up to stop doing something In my adult life I have taken up many new activities such as
yoga, salsa dancing, drumming and Japanese classes but I
GAVE them all UP for various reasons.

Join in to become involved in an activity with other people We joined in the football club.

Brush up on review I thought I'd brush up (on) my French before going to Paris.

To be into Really like something I am into doing karate.

Chill out relax This weekend I'm just going to chill out.

Get up to do What did you get up to at the weekend?

catch up with get the latest news It was so nice to catch up with her.

Take up Start something new He's only recently taken up gardening.

 Verbs
ART
Meaning Example

check out examine someone or something in order to be certain We checked this painting out.
that everything is correct
make over change or improve the appearance of someone or He made over the design if this room.
something
pick up improve I need to pich up my drwing skills.

paint something with a broad brush to describe something in general terms Can you paint the situation with a broad brush?

bring something to life When an artist finishes his artwork He brought his masterpiece to life.

To be eye-catching has something that captures your attention It was an eye-catching sculpture.

Bring around change someone's mind, convince someone She doesn't want to go, but we'll eventually bring her
around.
Calm down Make somebody relaxed You can calm the baby down by rocking her gentl

Catch up on Become up-to-date I need to catch up on world events. I haven't seen the
news in ages.
Come across discover by accident They came across some lost Mayan ruins in the
jungle.
Figure out solve something, understand I finally figured the joke out. Now I understand why
everybody was laughing.
Think over cosider Think over before going there.

Fall apart Break into pieces because being too old. This book is goint to fall apart.
 Films and music
Verbs Meaning Example

Come out appear His latest film has just come out.
Walk out Leave the cinema Ten members of the audience walked
out.
Turn down Not ot accept The actress turned down their offer.
put on a record put a record on a record player Gene, can you put on the record so that
we can have some background music
for our party?
turn up increase the volume Let's turn it/this up.
turn down decrease the volume We need to turn it down.
Light up something Make something bright When I’d say there was a letter for him
you could see his eyes light up.
Shout out Thank, wish somebody well I want to give a shout-out to my dad,
who helped me a lot.
Stand out To be very noticeable The black lettering really stands out on
that orange background
 Books
Verbs Meaning Example

Flick through look quickly at the pages of I was flicking through a glossy magazine.
a magazine, book
Read through read it quickly from beginning to end, I always read through my essays before
especially in order to find mistakes handing them in.

Pore over read it very carefully When I left, Sophie was poring over a
text book.
Dip into only read a small part of it at any one Just dip into this, don’t waste your time.
time
Skim through read all of it very quickly and not I’ve just skimmed through the report –
carefully, often just to understand the I’ll read it in detail later
main point
Read up on spend time reading in order to find out I thought I’d better read up on the
information about it company’s products before attending
the interview.
Read something out say the words as you read them so that He read out the results of the
others can hear you competition.
 Verbs
Sports
Meaning Example

Kick off Start a game The Cup final kicked off.

Work out train I always work out in the morning.

Knock out cause someone to become unconscious France wwas knocked out of the
championship.
Play off A game to decide a winner They will meet in a play-off.

Go for Try to achieve something difficult He is going for the world record.

Burn off Get rid of energy I need to burn off fat to be slim.

Work off take off from our bodies the calories we added I want to work off the cheesecake I ate for a
to it by eating dessert last night
Warm up Doing gentale exercises I always warm up before trainings.

Cool down Become cooler I make sure I cool down after the gym.

Give in Agree to stop competing You must never give in.

Pull ahead Suddenly get in front of another person in a It is a great feeling when you pull ahead of
race the rest of the field.
Set back delay the progress of someone or something His accident really set him back.

Chicken out of To not do something that you were going to Sam was going to try scuba diving, but he
do because of fear chickened out at the last minute.
 Traveling
Verbs Meaning Example

Get away To have a holiday or vacation We hope to get away for a few days at
Easter.
Set off Start a journey We set off for Paris just after ten.
Start off begin His journey started off at Beach Station.
Get on Enter a bus, train, plane, to climb on I think we got on the wrong bus.
board
Stop off Visit for a short time I was planning to stop off in Oxford.
Check in Arrive and register at a hotel or airport Please check in at least an hour before
departure.
Check out Leave the hotel after paying We checked out at noon.
Get in Arrive (train, plane) I got in just after eight o’clock.
Pull in Arrive in a train station The train pulled in exactly in time.
Pull out Leave the train station The train had pulled out before I arrived
at the station.
See off Go to the airport or station to say They’ve gone to the airport to see their
goodbye to someone son off.
 Mass media
Verbs Meaning Example

Fall for To believe a joke or a lie I never read the news so I don’t fall for the nonsense
they spread.

Keep up with stay informed. I keep up with the news by listening to the radio in
my car whilst I am driving.

Call for demand action Two leading newspapers have called for the prime
minister to resign.

Blow over forget a situation or story. The prince decided to stay out of the public eye until
the story had blown over.

Cover up try to keep secret They have been accused of covering the accident
up and are demanding full disclosure.

Bring down to reduce the level of something They've just brought down the age at which you can
join.
sound out get an opinion from Perhaps you could sound the chairwoman out before
the meeting, to see which way she's going to vote?
Pull out Stop being involved As part of the restructuring plan we will
be pulling out of all operations
Shoot up Increase quickly The numbeer of accidents has shop up in the last
couple of years.
Break through to force your way through something that A group of young demonstrators attempted to break
is stopping you from moving through police lines.
 Verbs
Technology
Meaning Example

Log in/on To write your password in order to use I can't log in, have you changed your
your computer. password?
Key in To put information into a computer To access the web page you have to key
using buttons or a keyboard in the code that you will be given by
email.
Boot up start working It takes quite a while for this computer
to boot up.
Scroll up/down To move information up and down the Use the mouse wheel to scroll
screen in order to read it up and down the screen.

Back up To make a copy of the information It is highly recommended to back

stored on a computer up important files.
Cut out Suddenly stop working His phone has cut out.
Back up Make a copy You should back your work up every
day.
Pick up Connect to the internet and access I have to be able to pick up my emails.
emails
Power up Start a computer I have just powered up.
Shut down Turn off Can you shut down my laptop?
 Verbs
Crime
Meaning Example

Beat up attack with violence The man beat up the stranger and was later
arrested.
Break in force entry The burglar broke in and stole cash and
some jewelry.
Break out escape from The prisoners broke out of the prison during
the fire.

Get away with not be punished for sth My boss got away with tax fraud by bribing a
judge.
Lock up put in prison We ought to lock up all corrupt politicians.

Tip off give evidence against The police were tipped off last night by a
witness.
Run off with Steal They ran off with the wallet.

Blow up destroy The blew the door up.

Let off allow (someone who has been caught doing The police officer let her off with just a
something wrong or illegal) to go without warning.
being punished
Do away to put to death Thousands of people have been done
away with in this manner
 Verbs
WORKMeaning Example

Burn out Be extremely tired If he doesn’t stop working so hard,

he’ll burn himself out.
Call off Cancel They have called off the meeting.
Draw up Prepare something in writing, The contract was drawn up last
especially an official document year.
Hand in Give something to a person You must all hand in your projects
in authority by the end of next week.
Knock off Stop working Let’s knock off for lunch.
Knuckle down Start working harder I’m going to have to knuckle
down to some serious study.
Take over Take control of something I intend that you shall take
over the business.
Work out To develop in a successful way Things have worked out quite well
for us.
Take someone on Employ someone She was taken on as a trainee.

Put something off postpone The can’t put the decision off
longer.
 Verbs
Education Meaning Example

Fall behind to not be on schedule, to be behind the standard or He was a smart boy in school, but he fell behind due
level of students in your class/group to his illness and gave up.

Find out to learn something that you didn’t know Please click on the following link to find out about the
lessons provided in school.
Go over to review something, to check something I’m not sure if my figures are accurate, can we go
over the one more time?
Hand in to give a piece of your work to somebody Students have handed in their assignment for
marking.
Hand out to give or offer things to people in a group so that The teacher opened a folder she’d brought with her
each person has one or some and handed out sheets of paper to everyone.
Look up to find a piece of information Can you give me his last name, so I can look up his
email address?
Mix up to confuse two things or people Jack has difficulty with visualising numbers and often
mixes them up.
Catch on understand They were making fun of me, but I didn’t catch on
until I saw them laughing.
Hit the books Study actively I need to hit the books – it’s the end of the semester.

skip class you didn’t go to the class I have skipped many classes and I need to hit the
boks.
Drop out Leave school without finishing your studies She started a degree but dropped out after only a
year.