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Home  arrow XII. ESL Issues (Chapters 50-53)  arrow Web  arrow A list of phrasal verbs and their meanings (p. 523)

A list of phrasal verbs and their meanings (p. 523)

Inseparable
Brush up on     Review We're getting together tonight to brush up on our Spanish skills.
Check up on     Track My parents are always calling to check up on me.
Check with     Consult Check with your professor before you research that topic.
Chew on     Consider We need to chew on this problem.
Come across     Appear They come across as very rude.
Come through     Succeed I just knew the manager could come through and solve the problem.
Come up with     Conceive No one can come up with a good advertisement for the toothpaste.
      Procure Bob has come up with a welding torch and some scrap iron.
Fall back on     Retreat We can always fall back on the ideas we came up with yesterday.
Fear for     Worry Sam fears for the welfare of her family since she had a stroke.
Go over     Review Let's go over the numbers from the annual report again.
Hang on     Grab They yelled for us to hang on as the raft swept down the river.
Hold on     Wait The server asked us to hold on while he got his notebook out.
Launch into     Begin With little preamble, the guest launched into her speech.
Look after     Care for When the neighbors went on vacation I looked after their house.
Lean toward     Prefer Helene usually leans toward green, leafy vegetables.
Mean to     Intend Protesting his innocence, Ron claims he didn't mean to offend us.
Play along     Pretend When he lies, I just play along as if I believe him.
Play at     Try What is that salesperson playing at, stealing my customers like this?
Put up with     Tolerate Too many people put up with terrible service in banks.
Roll over     Acquiesce Whenever anyone puts up a fuss he just rolls over without a fight.
Run out of     Exhaust Don't you hate it when you're baking a cake and you run out of flour?
Skip out     Desert Knowing how to skip out of troublesome engagements is an art.
Sneak out     Abscond When we were kids we used to sneak out of the house at night.
Sneak up     Creep It's funny how your birthday can just sneak up on you.
Steal away     Leave The lovers stole away from the rest of the party and watched stars.
Strike up     Begin The drummer will strike up a tempo and the parade can begin.
Talk down to     Patronize The librarian would always talk down to the young girl.
Tie into     Attack The abusive boss tied into his inexperienced staff.
      Connect Let's see if we can tie into the network from this room.
Try for     Seek Alex said she'd try for funding for all the travelers.
Walk off with     Steal Two of the concert-goers walked off with a box of CDs.
Wander off     Meander I looked around for Jenny, but she had wandered off somewhere.
Work out     Succeed This just isn't going to work out.
Work toward     Pursue We want to work toward a comprehensive plan by next year.
Wallow in     Indulge Sometimes a person just has to wallow in their feelings.
Separable
Brought up     Raised Susan brought that issue up again.
Change over     Switch The company will change its systems over to the new software.
Change up     Upgrade John said he could change his style up to meet the new challenge.
Check out     Look We went to the show to check that new car out.
Chew out     Scold The coach is going to chew him out for missing that goal.
Dial in     Calibrate We're trying to dial the equipment in for the next test.
Eat up     Relish Many children really eat cartoons up on Saturday mornings.
Fight off     Resist I can't seem to fight this illness off any more.
Fight out     Decide John and Mary had to fight it out for the last brownie.
Keep on     Persevere Sometimes you just keep laughing on about a joke.
Laugh off     Ignore He teaches the kids to laugh adversity off when they can.
Mark down     Reduce The clerk will mark prices down later in the day.
Mark out     Delineate They can clearly mark the boundaries out with red tape.
Mark up     Increase The manager will mark up the prices that the clerk marked down.
Pack up     Bundle Police ordered residents to pack their things up and evacuate.
Pick out     Select They pick five items out from the menu every meal.
Pick off     Eliminate When I was a boy we used to pick tin cans off the fence with rocks.
Put off     Postpone It seems like I always put papers off until it's almost too late.
Put through     Subject to After everything they put the pledge through, he joined their fraternity.
Read back     Review The prosecutor asked the clerk to read the transcript back to the jury.
Read through     Peruse James read the book through once and then lent it to his cousin.
Roll back     Reduce Some department stores brag about how they roll their prices back.
      Undo The new president acted quickly to roll the new regulations back.
Roll out     Introduce Excitement was high when Ford rolled the new Thunderbird out.
Run over     Hit Veering off the road, the car ran a pedestrian over.
Run through     Rehearse Mack asked us to run the song through one more time.
Save up     Accrue My parents taught me to save my money up for expensive purchases.
Seek out     Pursue At the conference, Jill will seek the professor out for a meeting.
Shake off     Rally Steve was able to shake the injury off and return to the game.
Sleep off     Lose One can often sleep a bad headache off without pain pills.
Strike down     Reject The Court today will strike the new law down as unconstitutional.
Talk down     Counsel A good partner can talk you down from some tough places.
Talk out of     Convince She was able to talk the young child out of jumping into the pool.
Talk through     Explain Sit in the driver's seat while I talk you through the controls.
Try on     Appraise Why don't you wait while I try this suit on?
Try out     Test You can always try the car out before you buy it.
Walk through     Demonstrate I can walk you through the process before you do it on your own.
Work off     Eliminate After the holidays many folks have to work the extra pounds off.
Work out     Solve The problem is so complicated that he just can't work it out.





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