McGraw-Hill’s Super-Mini Phrasal Verb Dictionary Second Edition Richard A. Spears, Ph.D. New York Chicago San Francisco Lisbon London Madrid Mexico City Milan New Delhi San Juan Seoul Singapore Sydney Toronto Copyright © 2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distrib- uted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. 0-07-159494-9 The material in this eBook also appears in the print version of this title: 0-07-149229-1. All trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners. Rather than put a trademark symbol after every occurrence of a trademarked name, we use names in an editorial fash- ion only, and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark. 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McGraw-Hill has no responsibility for the content of any information accessed through the work. Under no circumstances shall McGraw-Hill and/or its licensors be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, punitive, consequential or similar damages that result from the use of or inability to use the work, even if any of them has been advised of the possibility of such damages. This limitation of liability shall apply to any claim or cause whatsoever whether such claim or cause arises in contract, tort or otherwise. DOI: 10.1036/0071492291 For more information about this title, click here Contents Introduction v How to Use This Dictionary vii Phrasal Verb Dictionary 1 iii This page intentionally left blank Introduction Phrasal verbs, also called two-word verbs, are idiomatic expressions wherein the second element ofthe verb (the adverb or particle) is not necessarily predictable. For instance, why the word upincall up a friend? Why not say call on a friendor call in a friend? Actually, those are three separate, unpredictable combinations, and they each mean something completely different. For example, you can call up a friendon the telephone, call on a friendto visit a friend’s home, and call in a friendto come help you with something. This dictionary is a compilation of1,800 phrasal verbs consisting ofeither a transitive or intransitive verb and its particle or adverb. In many cases, additional prepositional phrases are shown as part ofthe entry, but the dictionary focuses on phrasal or two-word verbs. This second edi- tion of the basic phrasal verb collection is based on McGraw-Hill’s Dictionary ofAmerican Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. The format of the dictionary is designed to pro- vide the information needed by learners who are attempt- ing to read and write conventional American English. v Copyright © 2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Click here for terms of use. This page intentionally left blank How to Use This Dictionary ALPHABETIZATION In this dictionary, phrasal verbs (or two-word verbs) and their related prepositional verbs are alphabetized on the verb. The variable terms (such as someoneor something) are also alphabetized. THE TRANSPOSABLE ADVERB Adverbs in most transitive phrasal verbs can swap places with the direct object ofthe verb. This cannot be done if the object ofthe verb is a pronoun.Although the result may, in some instances, look like a prepositional phrase, it is not. In the following example containing “down the door,” the word “down” is an adverb that stands between the verb and its direct object. She broke downthe door with an axe. She broke the door downwith an axe. Please hammer the nail in. Please hammer inthe nail. But you cannot say: *She broke down it. *Please hammer in it. vii Copyright © 2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Click here for terms of use. How to Use This Dictionary The entry head break something down†contains a dagger (†) that indicates that the “down” can be trans- posed to a position just after the verb. Any word marked with the dagger can be transposed to a position immedi- ately following the verb except when the object ofthe verb is a pronoun. Only the adverbs followed by † can be swapped in this manner. VARIABLE TERMS Entries may include variable classes ofwords. The vari- able classes can be very broad, such as someone, which refers to any person, or something, which refers to any thing, object, or group. Many entries are very particular as to whether they include either someoneor something. Others can refer to people or things, someone or somethingwithout distinction. In this dictionary, these words can be thought ofas proxies for the members ofthe classes ofwords they describe. The following examples show the kinds ofthings that someoneand somethingcan stand for. associate with new friends (someone) associate with them (someone) associate with a bunch ofdifferent people (someone) associate with the Smiths (someone) play the radioat full blast (something) play my new recordat full blast (something) play his huge stereoat full blast (something) play all the audio stuffin the whole dormat full blast (something) The variable classes are represented in these examples by someoneor somethingas in associate with someoneor play somethingat full blast. There are additional proxy terms ofthis kind. All ofthem are descriptive ofthe kind viii How to Use This Dictionary ofwords or phrases they can stand for. Here are some of the terms you might encounter. a period oftime “about an hour” doing something “eating bread and butter” some amount ofmoney “about three bucks” somehow “without much effort” someone “Fred” some place “the kitchen” something “a toaster” sometime “at noon” someone or somethingwhich can be either someone or something. EXAMPLES Each sense has at least one example. In the case of the transitive verbs, the position ofthe adverb or particle may be either transposed or in the same position as it is found in the entry head. Learners should study the entry head, definition, and example and grasp the common elements ofmeaning that these three parts ofthe entry share. These elements are designed to share the same elements of meaning and syntax. ix