PHRASAL VERBS

Other Phrasal Verbs

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P

Procedere dei fatti
Pan out
They don't know how things will pan out.


Morire
Pass away
I was very sorry to hear that Ted’s grandfather passed away.
The old man passed away whilst sleeping.


Millantare, far passare per qualcuno o qualcosa di diverso
Pass off as
The antique dealer was trying to pass off fakes as genuine eighteenth-century pieces of forniture.


Trasmettere un messaggio
Pass on
I'll pass the message on when Mandy is back home.


Svenire, perdere conoscenza
Pass out
When she heard that she'd won a lot of money, she passed out.


Distribuire
Pass out
Everyone in the room needs the report... help me to pass them out.


Restituire
Pay back
I’ve to pay back the fifty pounds I borrowed.


Vendicarsi
Pay back
I'm going to pay Harry back for the insult.


Spendere per comprare
Pay for
I paid fifty pounds for the jumper.


Depositare
Pay into
Frank paid the cash into his account.


Rimborsare completamente
Pay off
Our  mortgage will be paid off in twenty years.


Produrre un risultato positivo
Pay off
My patience paid off when the company finally signed the contract.


Sentirsi bene
Perk up
Sheila was ill, but she perked up a bit when some friends dropped by.


Diminuire fino ad esaurirsi, svanire
Peter out,
Beverly was so snotty to enter politics, but soon her enthusiasm petered out.
 

Fare scomparire gradualmente
Phase out
They’re phasing out big old cars with modern city-cars.


Mangiar poco, smangiuzzare
Pick at
Beverly’s on diet now, that’s why she only picks at food in a bored fashion.


Scegliere, selezionare
Pick out
Greg couldn't pick out the bandit from the mug shots the police showed him.


Prendere una malattia, un’influenza
Pick up
Matt picked up the flu in the crowded underground train.


Continuare, riprendere
Pick up
So, Peter.. we can pick up the lesson where we left off tomorrow.


Migliorare, crescere
Pick up
Rachel’s been ill, but she’s picking up again now.
Prices have picked up during the Christmas time.


Studiare, apprendere
Pick up
Hey… where did you pick your English?


Conoscere per caso, rimorchiare
Pick up
Gwen is the girl Sam picked up at the party.


Ingozzarsi, mangiare molto
Pig out
We pigged out so much food that I’m still feeling stuffed.


Intensificare, esagerare
Pile on
The latest news is bad enough, so please… don’t pile it on by other details.


Accumulare
Pile up
Work keeps on piling up and Fiona can't manage to get it all done.


Mettere alle corde, “inchiodare”
Pin down
It’s really difficult to make Sheila state something definite about his
intentions… he just won’t be pinned down!


Descrivere con esattezza
Pin down
To be honest I can’t pin down what is that I don’t like about Sharon.


Ordinare il silenzio
Pipe down
The teacher asked the students to pipe down.


Comportarsi stupidamente, senza rispetto, perdere tempo senza fare il dovuto o il promesso
Piss about, piss around
Look, Sam... we haven't got much time, so... stop pissing about and get the work done.
Oh, Patricia... stop pissing me about and let’s get to the point!
You're trying to gain time, Kim: you're pissing me around... I want my money back!


Perdere stupidamente
Piss away
Matilda was earning a lot but, she pissed it all away in shopping.


Dire di andarsene brutalmente
Piss off
Sheila’s so silly: she had been boring me all the day with bollocks… so in the end I told her to piss off!


Annoiare a morte
Piss off
Sharon, please… stop it! The play is over, you’ve pissed me off!


Collaborare
Pitch in
We'll be finished soon if all the staff pitches in.


Sminuire, minimizzare
Play down
The Government has tried to play down the importance of the quality of life.


Finire rapidamente
Polish off
Mary polished off half a bottle of whisky.
 

Fare una scappatina fuori, uscire per poco
Pop out
I'm just popping out for food shopping.


Piovere a catinelle
Pour down
It poured down so they had to remain indoors.


Allontanarsi
Pull away
The car pulled away at high speed.

 
Arrivare di un treno alla stazione
Pull in
The train pulled in and Victor rushed to meet Wendy as she got off.


Fare bene delle cose non facili
Pull off
No-one thought that Tom would be able to do it, but he pulled it off well in the end.


Rallentare, fermarsi
Pull up
The cab pulled up outside the school and Patricia got out.


Forzare una fila, inserirsi
Push in
The old man just pushed in the queue at the cash with effrontery.

Q

Ammutolirsi, tacere
Quieten down
We quietened down when the lights were switched off.


Aspettare, fare una coda
Queue up
Tom had to queue up standing hours in a line to get tickets for the ferry.

R
 

Parlare continuamente, ciarlare
Rabbit on about something
Brian kept rabbitting on about a series of fling relationships of the past whilst we were yawning.
People are rabbitting on about how horrible the Americans are... but this is not my experience!


Trattare noiosamente, non arrivare al punto
Ramble on about
Our grannies used to have a tea and ramble on for hours about their nephews.
Please, Goldie… stop rambling on and let’s get to the point!


Accrescere, aumentare, elevare
Ramp up something
The launch of a new software was an effective way to ramp up the company's income.

Informare le autorità
Rat on
Sam ratted to the police on the wrongdoings of his neighbours.


Ripetere rapidamente
Rattle off
Albert rattled off load of statistics which nobody could understand.


Leggere ad alta voce
Read out
The commission read out the names of those students who'd passed.


Ripetere a memoria, a “rullo”
Reel off
Holly has a fantastic memory: she had quickly reeled off all the names of the class without hesitation.


Derubare, turlupinare
Rip off
Don't even think about  shopping here... they'll rip you off.

 
Escludere
Rule out
The Government had to rule out the possibility of a cut in wages,

S
 

Mettere da parte, nascondere soldi o valori
Salt away
Belinda salted away a fortune over the years and no one ever knew!


Risparmiare
Save up
Patrick's saving up to buy a sports car.


Impaurire
Scare off
Belinda’s dog scared the burglars away barking at them.


Cercare con difficoltà
Scratch around for something
Many people are scratching around for a better place where to live.


Sbagliare, fare male una cosa, rovinare
Screw up
Jenny screwed up her interview and now she feels depressed.
Sandy screwed up the project and was sacked.


Annotare, scrivere al volo
Scribble down
When I met Marion I scribbled down her phone number on my IC.


Vendere completamente, esaurire
Sell out
They sold out the tickets in a couple of hours.
The concert completely sold out weeks in advance.


Rompere una promessa, non mantenere la parola
Sell out
Workers think they've been sold out to the new japanese company by trade union.


Richiedere o comperare per posta
Send away for
Joan has sent away for the new catalogue.


Chiamare a casa, fare venire
Send for
Lucy’s getting worse… we ought to send for the doctor!


Fare una vita di routine
Settle down
Paul married Gwen two years ago and settled down living a routine life.


Pagare, saldare
Settle up with
Don, I owe you a lot of money… I’ll settle up at the end of the month.


Confrontare I prezzi per comprare
Shop around
Sally, If you shop around you can find some real bargains.


Sfoggiare, mettersi in mostra
Show off
Peter always shows off with his knowledge.


Comportarsi in modo da attirare l’attenzione
Show off
The children were showing off by spilling food over the table.


Apparire
Show up
The boss was upset when Meg didn't show up for the meeting.


Chiudere un’attività
Shut down
Many little shops shut down when the supermarket opened.


Chiudere un computer
Shut down
Pat, you should close all programs before you shut the computer down.


Far tacere
Shut up
Shut up Dan… hold your tongue!
In the end I gave Norman some money just to shut him up.


Sostenere, supportare
Side with
The kids always side with me against you… they love me!


Essere compreso, venire capito
Sink in
The tutor explained the lesson to me twice but it still hasn’t sunk in.
What you said didn’t sink in at first.


Non fare niente
Sit around
Ed and Jo sat around doing nothing, while the other students did all the work.


Rimanere fino alla fine
Sit through
Tom was bored and wanted to leave halfway, but he sat through the film.


Sparlare di qualcuno, criticare
Slag off
The old ladies spent whole day slagging their husbands off.
The gig was not good and the press slagged our band off with bad reviews.


Andare a letto con molti
Sleep around
Becky used to sleep around a lot at college.


Dormire per riprendersi
Sleep off
Mary drank too much, now she’s sleeping the effects of alcohol.


Posticipare al giorno dopo
Sleep on
I can give you a decision just now… I’ll sleep on it and let you know.


Sbagliarsi, fare un errore
Slip up
The waiter slipped up and brought us a wine we hadn’t ordered.


Placare, appianare
Smooth over
Al tried to smooth things over between Mary and Marc, talking with them to make their clash less serious.


Riprendersi da una sbornia, da eccessi
Sober up
Mandy sobered up a bit when she left the pub.


Ammorbidire, rendere malleabile, intortare
Soften up
Steve decided to soften Liza up with a candlelight dinner before kissing her!
Beverly's not my girl friend... she's interested in me so she just softens me up!


Perseverare nonostante le avversità
Soldier on
Life got hard when James left her… she had to soldier on!


Risolvere dei problemi, sistemare
Sort out
So, Tom… have you sorted out all that troubles you had with the computer?


Conoscere le attitudini e preferenze di qualcuno
Sound out
You should sound Wendy out before making a reservation!


Spiegare chiaramente a chi non capisce
Spell out
Do I really have to spell it out… no money left!


Vivificare
Spice up
He’s spicing up his life by travelling around and riding a big motorcycle.


Dividere, separare in gruppi
Split up
Dorothy split the class up into groups of six.


Finire una relazione
Split up
Ed and Carrie are always splitting up and then getting back together again.


Incoraggiare, spronare
Spur on
The thought of a raise spurred the team on to complete the plan on time.


Stare da parte
Stand aside
Greg, don't stand aside… you let others do all the work!


Rimanere a fianco, sostenere
Stand by
Sheila stood by me as she believed that I was trustworthy.


Tollerare, accettare
Stand for
I'm not going to stand for your rude manners any longer.


Rappresentare, significare
Stand for
Do you know what these Cyrillic words stand for?
The old hated the values of modern society and all it stood for.


Sostituire
Stand in for
I had to stand in for a colleague while he was on holiday.


Risaltare
Stand out
Frank’s pink jumper stood out from the crowd.


Dare supporto morale
Stand up for
We really have to stand up for human rights.


Affrontare
Stand up to
It was brave of Brenda to stand up to the crook.


Iniziare un’attività
Start up
They started up a new branch on a little budget.


Non uscire
Stay in
I'm going to stay in tonight… I’m worn out!


Restare più a lungo
Stay on
Harris stayed on after he graduated to do a Master's degree.


Uscire, stare fuori casa
Stay out
Sam and Belinda stayed out all night, but anything happened.


Rimanere alzati
Stay up
Fiona’s parents stayed up until she was back home.


Incrementare, accelerare
Step up
The police have stepped up the pressure on alcohol-drive.


Turbare, rovinare, incasinare
Stir up
He’s always stirring up things between Janet and Ted… he’s a troublemaker!


Far credere qualcosa ad una persona
String along
Linda’s stringing Marc along pretending to like him.


Mettere insieme
String together
They can barely string two words together in English.


Spegnere una sigaretta
Stub out
Patricia stubbed her cigarette out in the ashtray and left home.


Riassumere
Sum up
At the end the teacher summed up the main points again.


Prendere il coraggio a due mani
Summon up
Fiona couldn't summon up the strength to apply for the new job.


Arrivare a capire
Suss out
Belinda? Oh... it took her ages to suss out what was going on!


Avere un’alta opinione, credere in qualcosa
Swear by
Rod is such an alcoholic: he swears by whisky as the very medicine for flu.


Avere un’ematoma, una infiammazione
Swell up
After falling down the stairs, Jack’s knee was all swollen up.