English phrasal verbs

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back out
move out of a space backwards; "He backed out of the driveway"

back up
make a copy of (a computer file) especially for storage in another place as a security copy; "You'd better back up these files!"

back up, back off, back down
move backwards from a certain position; "The bully had to back down"

back, back up
establish as valid or genuine; "Can you back up your claims?"

back, endorse, indorse, plump for, plunk for, support
be behind; approve of; "He plumped for the Labor Party"; "I backed Kennedy in 1960"

background, play down, downplay
understate the importance or quality of; "he played down his royal ancestry"

bail out
free on bail

bail out, bale out
remove (water) from a boat by dipping and throwing over the side

bandy, kick around
discuss lightly; "We bandied around these difficult questions"

bang out
play loudly; "They banged out `The star-spangled banner'"

bang up, smash up, smash
damage or destroy as if by violence; "The teenager banged up the car of his mother"

barge in, crash, gate-crash
enter uninvited; informal; "let's crash the party!"

barricade, block, blockade, stop, block off, block up, bar
render unsuitable for passage; "block the way"; "barricade the streets"; "stop the busy road"

bear down on, bear down upon
sail towards another vessel, of a ship

bear up
endure cheerfully; "She bore up under the enormous strain"

bear, take over, accept, assume
take on as one's own the expenses or debts of another person; "I'll accept the charges"; "She agreed to bear the responsibility"

bear, turn out
bring forth, "The apple tree bore delicious apples this year"; "The unidentified plant bore gorgeous flowers"

beat down
dislodge from a position; "She beat the dealer down to a much better price"

beat down
shine hard; "The sun beat down on the hikers"

beat down, bargain down
persuade the seller to accept a lower price; "She beat the merchant down $100"

beat out, tap out, thump out
beat out a rhythm

beat up, drum up, rally
gather; "drum up support"

beat, beat up, work over
give a beating to; subject to a beating, either as a punishment or as an act of aggression; "Thugs beat him up when he walked down the street late at night"; "The teacher used to beat the students"

beaver, beaver away
work hard on something

bed down, bunk down
go to bed; "We bedded down at midnight"

beget, get, engender, father, mother, sire, generate, bring forth
make children; "Abraham begot Isaac"; "Men often father children but don't recognize them"

belt out, belt
sing loudly and forcefully

black out
obliterate or extinguish; "Some life-forms were obliterated by the radiation, others survived"

black out
suppress by censorship as for political reasons; "parts of the newspaper article were blacked out"

black out, blacken out
darken completely; "The dining room blackened out"

blank out
cut out, as for political reasons; "several line in the report were blanked out"

blare out, blat out
announce loudly

blast off
launch with great force; "the rockets were blasted off"

blast, knock down
shatter as if by explosion

blaze away
perform (an acting passage) brilliantly and rapidly; "Mr. Jones blazed away in one passage after another to loud applause"

blaze away
speak with fire and passion; "He blazed away at his opponents in the Senate"

blaze away, blaze
shoot rapidly and repeatedly; "He blazed away at the men"

block out
indicate roughly; "We sketched out our plan"

block out
plan where and when songs should be inserted into a theatrical production, or plan a theatrical production in general

blockade, block off
obstruct access to

blow off
come off due to an explosion or other strong force

blow out
erupt in an uncontrolled manner; "The oil well blew out"

blow out, burn out, blow
melt, break, or become otherwise unusable; "The lightbulbs blew out"; "The fuse blew"

blow up, enlarge, magnify
make large; "blow up an image"

blurt out, blurt, blunder out, blunder, ejaculate
utter impulsively; "He blurted out the secret"; "He blundered his stupid ideas"

board, get on
get on board of (trains, buses, ships, aircraft, etc.)

bog down, bog
cause to slow down or get stuck; "The vote would bog down the house"

bog down, bog
get stuck while doing something; "She bogged down many times while she wrote her dissertation"

boil down, reduce, decoct, concentrate
be cooked until very little liquid is left; "The sauce should reduce to one cup"

boil over, overboil
overflow or cause to overflow while boiling; "The milk is boiling over"

book up
book all available places or tickets

boot, reboot, bring up
cause to load (an operating system) and start the initial processes; "boot your computer"

border on, approach
come near or verge on, resemble, come nearer in quality, or character; "This borders on discrimination!"; "His playing approaches that of Horowitz"

botch, bodge, bumble, fumble, botch up, muff, blow, flub, screw up, ball up, spoil, muck up, bungle, fluff, bollix, bollix up, bollocks, bollocks up, bobble, mishandle, louse up, foul up, mess up, fuck up
make a mess of, destroy or ruin; "I botched the dinner and we had to eat out"; "the pianist screwed up the difficult passage in the second movement"

bottom out
hit the ground; "the car bottomed out where the driveway meets the road"

bottom out
reach the low point; "Prices bottomed out and started to rise again after a while"

box in, box up
enclose or confine as if in a box

break down
cause to fall or collapse

break down, collapse
collapse due to fatigue, an illness, or a sudden attack

break down, crush
make ineffective; "Martin Luther King tried to break down racial discrimination"

break down, lose it, snap
lose control of one's emotions; "When she heard that she had not passed the exam, she lost it completely"; "When her baby died, she snapped"

break in
break so as to fall inward; "He broke in the door"

break in
intrude on uninvited; "The nosy couple broke in on our conversation"

break in
start in a certain activity, enterprise, or role

break in, break
enter someone's (virtual or real) property in an unauthorized manner, usually with the intent to steal or commit a violent act; "Someone broke in while I was on vacation"; "They broke into my car and stole my radio!"; "who broke into my account last night?"

break in, break
make submissive, obedient, or useful; "The horse was tough to break"; "I broke in the new intern"

break through, come through
penetrate; "The sun broke through the clouds"; "The rescue team broke through the wall in the mine shaft"

break through, crack
pass through (a barrier); "Registrations cracked through the 30,000 mark in the county"

break up
come apart; "the group broke up"

break up, crack up
laugh unrestrainedly

break up, disperse, scatter
cause to separate; "break up kidney stones"; "disperse particles"

break up, fragment, fragmentize, fragmentise
break or cause to break into pieces; "The plate fragmented"

break, break away
interrupt a continued activity; "She had broken with the traditional patterns"

break, break off, discontinue, stop
prevent completion; "stop the project"; "break off the negotiations"

break, break off, snap off
break a piece from a whole; "break a branch from a tree"

break, break out, break away
move away or escape suddenly; "The horses broke from the stable"; "Three inmates broke jail"; "Nobody can break out--this prison is high security"

break, break up
destroy the completeness of a set of related items; "The book dealer would not break the set"

break, get out, get around
be released or become known; of news; "News of her death broke in the morning"

break, separate, split up, fall apart, come apart
become separated into pieces or fragments; "The figurine broke"; "The freshly baked loaf fell apart"

break, wear, wear out, bust, fall apart
go to pieces; "The lawn mower finally broke"; "The gears wore out"; "The old chair finally fell apart completely"

breeze through, ace, pass with flying colors, sweep through, sail through, nail
succeed at easily; "She sailed through her exams"; "You will pass with flying colors"; "She nailed her astrophysics course"

brighten, lighten up, lighten
make lighter or brighter; "The paint will brighten the room"

bring about
cause to move into the opposite direction; "they brought about the boat when they saw a storm approaching"

bring around, cure, heal
provide a cure for, make healthy again; "The treatment cured the boy's acne"; "The quack pretended to heal patients but never managed to"

bring down
cause to be enthusiastic; "Her playing brought down the house"

bring in
submit (a verdict) to a court

bring in
transmit; "The microphone brought in the sounds from the room next to mine"

bring in, introduce
bring in a new person or object into a familiar environment; "He brought in a new judge"; "The new secretary introduced a nasty rumor"

bring on
cause to appear; "bring on the birthday cake"

bring out
encourage to be less reserved; "The teacher tried to bring out the shy boy"

bring out, get out
take out of a container or enclosed space; "Get out your best dress--we are going to a party!"

bring out, let out
bring out of a specific state

bring out, set off
direct attention to, as if by means of contrast; "This dress accentuates your nice figure!"; "I set off these words by brackets"

bring round, bring around
cause to adopt an opinion or course of action; "His urgent letter finally brought me around to give money to the school"

bring to, bring back, bring round, bring around
return to consciousness; "These pictures bring back sad memories"

bring up
cause to come to a sudden stop; "The noise brought her up in shock"

bring up
promote from a lower position or rank; "This player was brought up to the major league"

bring, work, play, wreak, make for
cause to happen or to occur as a consequence; "I cannot work a miracle"; "wreak havoc"; "bring comments"; "play a joke"; "The rain brought relief to the drought-stricken area"

bristle, uprise, stand up
rise up as in fear; "The dog's fur bristled"; "It was a sight to make one's hair uprise!"

bubble over, overflow, spill over
overflow with a certain feeling; "The children bubbled over with joy"; "My boss was bubbling over with anger"

buck, go against
resist; "buck the trend"

buffet, knock about, batter
strike against forcefully; "Winds buffeted the tent"

build up
enlarge, develop, or increase by degrees or in stages; "build up your savings"

build up, develop
change the use of and make available or usable; "develop land"; "The country developed its natural resources"; "The remote areas of the country were gradually built up"

build up, work up, build, progress
form or accumulate steadily; "Resistance to the manager's plan built up quickly"; "Pressure is building up at the Indian-Pakistani border"

build up, work up, build, ramp up
bolster or strengthen; "We worked up courage"; "build up confidence"; "ramp up security in the airports"

bump up
increase or raise; "OPEC bumped up the price of oil"

bundle off
send off unceremoniously

bundle up
dress warmly; "Mother bundled up the children for the long way to school"

bundle, bundle up, roll up
make into a bundle; "he bundled up his few possessions"

bunk off, play hooky
play truant from work or school; "The boy often plays hooky"

buoy, buoy up
keep afloat; "The life vest buoyed him up"

burn down, burn up, go up
burn completely; be consumed or destroyed by fire; "The hut burned down"; "The mountain of paper went up in flames"

burn off
clear land of its vegetation by burning it off

burn off, burn, burn up
use up (energy); "burn off calories through vigorous exercise"

burn, fire, burn down
destroy by fire; "They burned the house and his diaries"

butter up, brown-nose
flatter with the intention of getting something

buy into
buy stocks or shares of a company

buy off, pay off
pay someone with influence in order to receive a favor

bypass, short-circuit, go around, get around
avoid something unpleasant or laborious; "You cannot bypass these rules!"