Blog de Phrasal Verbs

Definition: to fasten something.

E.g.1. Do your coat up! It’s freezing outside!
E.g.2. These trousers are too small – I can’t do them up!

This phrasal verb can be separated. This phrasal verb has more than one meaning

Definition: To follow someone around; or, the person who follows someone around.

E.g.1) You’re going to the new coffee shop? Do you mind if I tag along?
E.g.2) My little brother is such a tag along – he follows me everywhere I go!

Etymology: A ‘tag’ is a piece of paper that hangs from something – for example, there is a ‘tag’ on a new pair of pants to tell you how much they cost. ‘Along’ means ‘with’ or ‘beside’. So to ‘tag along’ means to go with somebody but to follow their lead, to ‘hang’ on them as they go about their business.

Definition: to begin to work or study very hard, usually after a period of not working or studying.

E.g.1. You’ve had a nice holiday, but now it’s time to knuckle down.

E.g.2. If you don’t knuckle down to some hard work soon, you’ll be out of a job!

This phrasal verb can’t be separated.

Definition: to move your body so that you are sitting, standing or lying on something. (opposite: get off)

E.g.1. She got on her motorbike and started the engine.
E.g.2. The children got on the bed and started jumping up and down.

This phrasal verb can’t be separated. This phrasal verb has more than one meaning.

Definition: to move from a higher position to a lower position.

E.g.1. Some people who ride sports bikes try to get their knee down while they are going round corners. They feel that scraping their knee on the road proves that they are good, fast riders.
E.g.2. You shouldn’t be standing on that table! Get down!

This phrasal verb has more than one meaning. This phrasal verb can be separated.

Definition: to discover more about something, and possibly do something about it.

E.g.1. The witness gave us a lot of information. Have you followed it up yet?
E.g.2. I followed up an advertisement I got by e-mail, and now my computer doesn’t work properly.

This phrasal verb can be separated.

Definition: to start smoking a cigarette, cigar or pipe by lighting it.

E.g.1. When I was a student, one of my teachers used to light up his pipe before beginning the lesson.
E.g.2. He stood in a shop doorway and lit up a cigarette.

This verb has more than one meaning. This phrasal verb can be separated.

Definition:  to destroy or remove something or someone completely.

E.g.1. The huge wave wiped out houses, roads and fields.
E.g.2. Whole villages were wiped out.

This phrasal verb can be separated. This verb has more than one meaning

Definition: To sell very quickly; a characteristic of a popular product.

Example:

1) My new book, “How to Make Millions in the Slang Business,” is selling like hotcakes!
2) The new Pokemon game sold like hotcakes.

Etymology: A ‘hotcake’ is a pancake — flour and egg and milk cooked in hot pan. It’s not clear why ‘hotcakes’ are used as a model of popularity and high demand. It’s probably because hotcakes taste best when they are fresh and hot, so when someone is cooking ‘hotcakes’ you have to run to get them as they’re coming off the stove. Slang

Definition: to deliberately avoid discussing something. (This verb has more than one meaning)

E.g.1. He talked about his childhood, but passed over his teenage years.

E.g.2. We'll pass over what happened last week, shall we?

This phrasal verb can be separated.

Definition: Prison, particularly a maximum security federal prison (or jail).

Example: After he got caught robbing a bank, Ted was sent to the big house for 20 years.

Etymology: A ‘house’ is where people live, and a prison is quite large (or ‘big’), home to hundreds of criminals. This phrase became popular in the early 1900’s, when organized crime and large scale prisons developed in the United States.

Synonyms: up the river, under glass, behind bars

Definition:     To impose a severe penalty on someone; to give the maximum penalty for a crime.

Example:

1) His crime was so cruel and inhumane that they threw the book at him.
2) The judge told my lawyer that he is going to throw the book at me unless I beg the court for mercy.

Etymology:     Slang. 'The book' is the entire collection of laws and penalties. If a judge were to 'throw' the whole book of laws at someone, it would probably hurt quite a bit.

Definition: to buy large quantities of something, or all that is available.

E.g.1. Investors buy up stocks and shares when their value is increasing, then sell them when they think the value is at its peak.

E.g.2. Wealthy people moved into the area and bought up all the land.

This phrasal verb can be separated.