List 14 - Phrasal Verbs
Phrasal Verbs (Sentence examples: use up – yield to)
Phrasal Verb |
Meaning |
Example Sentence |
use up |
To finish the whole of something. |
Someone has used up all my disks. |
vouch for |
To give personal guarantee of the truth or accuracy of something. |
His proposers vouched for his honesty and capability. |
wait around |
To idle somewhere while waiting for something to happen. |
A group of stargazers waited around for the sky to clear; instead, black clouds spread across the sky. |
wait behind |
To remain somewhere after other people have left. |
We waited behind to help clean up after the farewell party broke up. |
wait for |
To look forward to something. |
They waited in vain for the rain to stop. |
To look forward to someone. |
The fans waited all morning at the airport for the television star to arrive. |
|
wait on |
To serve food and drink at a place (e.g. restaurant) where people pay to eat and/or drink. |
She waits on customers with utmost courtesy and patience. |
wait out |
To wait for something to end. |
We had drinks and light meals at a café while waiting out the stormy weather. |
wait up |
To stay up while expecting someone or something to happen. |
Sean waits up for her every night. |
wash away |
To remove by using water. |
The police believed the blood stains were washed away by the murderer. |
wash down |
To make something easier to swallow by drinking water. |
I don’t need a lot of water to wash these two tiny pills down. |
To wash something with water from top to bottom. |
The two of us washed down the spiral staircase this morning. |
|
wash off |
To remove something from a surface by cleaning with water. |
These stubborn dark stains will not wash off. |
wash out |
To cause an event to be cancelled or interrupted because of rain. |
The match was completely washed out by the unexpected weather. |
To remove by washing. |
I used the new detergent, but the curry stain wouldn’t wash out. |
|
wash up |
To wash after a meal, the items used in serving and eating of the meal. |
As we are in a hurry to go, let’s help her wash up the dishes. |
To wash one’s hands and face. |
The children were told to wash up before they sat down for dinner. |
|
To bring something up on to the shore. |
This is not the first time that a carcass of a whale is washed up the beach. |
|
watch for |
To look out for something. |
Watch for the sign that points down to the lane leading to the waterfall. |
watch out for |
To be careful of something. |
While there, you had better watch out for pickpocket. |
watch over |
To guard or take care of someone or something. |
The woman is watching over her very sick husband in the ward. |
work against |
To harm one’s chances of success. |
Your inability to speak well is likely to work against you when you enter politics. |
work at |
To make great efforts to achieve something. |
I am not very good at writing short stories, but I am working at it. |
work into |
To blend. |
You have to work the cocoa into the eggs. |
work off |
To get rid of something by doing something else. |
He always uses swearing words whenever he tries to work off his anxiety. |
To get rid of something by doing something else that is energetic or requires effort. |
She took up cycling to work off her excess pounds. |
|
work on |
To repair or restore something. |
We spent weeks working on the defaced sculpture. |
To improve on something. |
The participants work on their stamina by doing aerobic exercises. |
|
To persuade. |
He has been working on his dad to give him the money for a bicycle. |
|
work out |
To plan in detail. |
The burglars have worked out a way to sneak into the whisky warehouse. |
To calculate. |
We have to work out the cost of living in the city before we think of working there. |
|
To amount to a total. |
How did the repair bill work out to such a huge amount? |
|
To do physical exercise. |
She works out one hour aerobics twice a week. |
|
To solve something. |
The researchers still haven’t worked out what caused this new disease. |
|
To develop in a good way. |
We hope this new business of ours will work out well successfully. |
|
To understand the reasons for someone’s behavior. |
We couldn’t work out why he reacted in that way. |
|
To become successful. |
It all worked out in the end in spite of all the difficulties. |
|
work up |
To develop a physical state through an activity or effort. |
I certainly worked up a big appetite after a marathon jog. |
To rouse the strong feeling of someone. |
Being strongly suspicious of her husband, she has worked herself up into extreme jealousy. |
|
work up to |
To gradually prepare oneself for something difficult. |
He hasn’t the courage to dive from the top diving board, but he is working up to it. |
write back |
To reply to a letter. |
I’ve written her ten letters in the past weeks, but she has not written back. |
write down |
To put down in writing. |
You don’t have a good memory, so you’d better write down whenever you need to. |
To reduce the value, price, etc. of something such as items of stock or goods |
The value of the machinery was significantly written down in the latest estimation. |
|
write in |
To write to express an opinion or request for information. |
Hundreds of viewers wrote in to complain after the show. |
write into |
To include something in a document. |
The other party was disputing about something that was not written into the contract. |
write off |
To fail to recover a debt and cancel it as a bad debt. |
The bank was forced to write off some of the loans when the borrowers couldn’t be found. |
To acknowledge an asset has no value. |
They had to write off some of the machinery after they were destroyed in the fire. |
|
To be damaged beyond repair. |
His car badly damaged in an accident had to be written off. |
|
To regard someone or something as not going to be successful. |
You shouldn’t write yourself off as a good writer so quickly. |
|
write out |
To express in writing. |
He couldn’t speak due to a bad sore throat, so he wrote it out instead. |
To give information (on a document). |
She wrote out a cheque for fifty pounds. |
|
write up |
To give an account of something in writing. |
Every one of us had to write up a report on our individual findings for the meeting. |
yield to |
To submit to pressure or demands. |
The victim’s family yielded to the kidnappers’ demand despite the huge ransom. |
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