|
PHRASAL |
MEANING |
EXAMPLES / TRANSLATION |
|
wade through |
slowly
peruse |
We had to wade through a
pile of documents. |
|
wait
on |
attend, assist, help |
Two
salesgirls
are waiting on the
customer. |
|
wait
up for |
stay out of bed for |
He waited
up for the news of his daughter. |
|
wake up |
stop sleeping |
He wakes up at six every day. |
|
walk about |
stroll |
Before
our flight back we spent a pleasant hour walking about the Buenos Aires
Botanical Garden. |
|
walk away
with |
win
easily, steal, |
They walked away with all
the prizes. |
|
walk
out on |
leave, abandon |
My sister is sad because her boyfriend walked
out on her. |
|
walk out with |
court |
Jane is walking out with an
old friend of hers. |
|
warm up |
1) become or make warmer |
1) The
small fire warmed up all the room.. |
|
2) become
more animated |
2) He
warmed up when he saw his brother again. |
|
|
warn off |
inform
in advance |
The guard
warned the intruder off not to enter. |
|
wash down |
clean a car, a ship by using |
The crew
spent two days washing the ship down. |
|
wash off |
remove a stain by washing |
She was able to wash the
dirty mark out. |
|
wash up |
clean dishes after a meal |
Who is washing up tonight? |
|
watch out for |
beware of,
be careful with |
If you go into the jungle, watch
out for tigers
and snakes. |
|
watch out |
beware,
be careful |
Watch out! The roads are
icy today. |
|
watch over |
guard |
The shepherd watched over
the sheep. |
|
water down |
dilute |
This soup has been watered down. |
|
wear away |
gradually
reduce the height |
The soles
of his shoes were worn away. |
|
wear off |
diminish, cease or disappear gradually |
My toothache has now worn
off. |
|
wear on |
pass slowly
on |
The night wore on and still
he could not sleep. |
|
wear out |
1) gradually
destroy |
1) My jacket is wearing out,
although it is only a year old. |
|
2) exhaust (separable but |
2) I felt worn out after the
long flight to Australia. |
|
|
|
weed out |
remove weeds
or |
The
manager insisted that they had to weed out all the unsuitable candidates
as they had to weed out their gardens. |
|
weigh out |
estimate how
heavy it is |
The
greengrocer weighed out a kilo of strawberries for Molly. |
|
weigh up |
consider carefully |
He weighed up his chances of
promotion before quitting.. |
|
while away |
spend some
time pleasantly |
We whiled away the whole
afternoon at the exhibition. |
|
win over |
convert |
This
priest won over many people to Christianity. |
|
win through |
survive, recover |
Despite
all the hardships, he won through. |
|
wind up |
1) turn the spring of a machine or a clock to make it go |
1) I
forgot to wind up my cuckoo clock last night. |
|
2) end a
meeting or speech |
2) The
meeting will wind up with a few English songs. |
|
|
wipe out |
destroy, annihilate |
A
town
near Miami
was wiped out
by the tornado. |
|
wipe up |
take up liquid by wiping |
He rushed to wipe up the pool
of coffee on the wooden floor. |
|
wither up |
become dry,
faded or dead |
Some
flowers soon wither up under the rays of the sun. |
|
work in |
introduce |
The
author worked in a few lines about his own life in Africa. |
|
work in with |
fit in with |
His ideas
for a new factory did not work in with those of his employers and he was
fired. |
|
work off |
get rid of, get over |
He worked
off his depression by visiting Menem's properties. |
|
work out |
1)
plan, solve by careful study |
1) Can
you work this puzzle out? |
|
2) exhaust by working |
2) The
old coal mine has already been worked out. |
|
|
3) be calculated at |
3) The
restaurant bill worked out at 20 dollars each. |
|
|
4) produce the desired result |
4) Their
plan did not work out and the robbers were caught. |
|
|
work up |
1)
excite, arouse |
1) The
dictator worked up the emotions of the crowd. |
|
2) study more thoroughly |
2) She
told us to work up 300 Phrasal Verbs for the exam. |
|
|
work up to |
progress
gradually to |
His novel
works up to a thrilling climax. |
|
|
|
worm out |
find out by devious means |
Don't let
worm out your secret so easily. |
|
wrap up |
1)
cover, put round, |
1) It was very cold so I
wrapped myself up in a blanket. |
|
2) wind or fold as |
2) She wrapped up the gift in
a beautiful silver paper. |
|
|
wriggle out
of |
avoid |
Amanda always tries to wriggle out of
her responsibilities. |
|
wrinkle up |
to get wrinkles in perplexity |
He
wrinkled up his face and admitted he was puzzled. |
|
write down |
make a
note |
I wrote down the
instructions. |
|
write into |
add to in
writing |
The terms were written into
the lease. |
|
write off
|
cancel,
regard as |
They were forced to write off
several irretrievable debts. |
|
write oneself
out |
exhaust one's ideas |
The
novelist appears to have written himself out because nothing new has
emerged from his pen since 2000. |
|
write out |
write in full |
The
witness wrote out his account of the acident. |
|
write up
|
compose
in writing |
I used my notes to write up
the report. |
|
OM PERSONAL MULTIMEDIA ENGLISH: Desde 1999 en
Internet © Orlando Moure - Todos los Derechos Reservados |