Phrasal Verbs – N – Z

Phrasal Verbs and Prepositional Verbs in English N – Z

• Phrasal verbs – A – M
• Phrasal verbs – N – Z

Phrasal Verb	Phrasal Verb in a sentence
N
nail up	(1) Please nail this picture up.
	(2) Who nailed up the door? I can't get out.
O
open up	They opened up the border a few weeks ago.
order in(to)	The officer ordered me in.
P
pass away/on	Her uncle passed away last summer.
pass out	(1) Don't drink until you pass out.
	(2) Please can you pass these handouts out to everyone?
pay off	The time I spent in this project didn't pay off.
pick up	(1) Relax. I will pick her up from school.
	(2) Help me pick up this guy from the sidewalk, will you?
	(3) The storm picked up about midnight.
	(4) I picked up a little French while I was in Quebec.
pile up	Exams are piling up on my desk.
plan out	They met and planned out their strategy.
play along	The guy with the guitar came in and played along.
point out	That's exactly what I pointed out earlier.
pop up	I don't know where he's going to pop up next.
power up	Okay, let's power up the engine and get going.
pull in(to)	A stranger just pulled into our driveway.
pull up	He reached down and pulled her up.
put across to	How can I best put this across to them?
put on	(1) Don't put your brother on.
	(2) Don't you have some clothes to put on?
put off (until)	Can't you just put this off until tomorrow?
put together	We put a team together on very short notice.
put up with	I just don't know why I even put up with you.
Q
quiet down	(1) Try to quiet him down.
	(2) Ask him to quiet down.
R
rattle off	She rattled off the long list of names.
reach out	I reached out, but there was nothing I could get hold of.
read over / through	Please read this text over and tell me what is about.
rely (up)on	Can we rely on you in this case?
ride out	Things are rough around here, but I think I can ride it out.
rub away	I used that towel to rub away the dirt on my shoes.
rule on	When will the court rule on your decision?
run away	The cat ran away from me.
run down	The car's battery ran down.
run off	This allows rainwater to run off.
run off with	The kidnappers ran off with her little daughter.
run over	(1) He ran over his neighbour's cat.
	(2) I ran over the time allotted for the presentation.
run out of	I'm afraid we ran out of milk and cookies.
rush in(to)	Don't rush into this job.
S
save up	I'm saving up money for a new car.
see through	(1) I knew what he was up to, because I saw through him.
	(2) I'll see this project through.
sell out (to)	(1) He refused to sell out to a large corporation.
	(2) He shouldn't have sold out to them.
send away for	I had to send away for a new part.
send for	He sent for his secretary.
send over (to)	She sent me over to her office.
set up (for)	I will set up a meeting for next week.
settle down	(1) One day they will settle down in a small cabin in the mountains.
	(2) Will you please settle down and relax?
share together	We shared a room together in college.
shoot up	Jane shot up just after she turned thirteen.
show off	Stop showing off.
sign in	Did you remember to sign in?
sign up for	Did you remember to sign up for the class?
sit around	Don't just sit around. Do something!
sit down	Please, sit down and relax.
sit in on	You guys mind if I sit in on your discussion?
sit out	I'm not playing. I better sit out this time.
sit up	(1) I sat up and read a book.
	(2) I wouldn't get such terrible backaches if I sat up properly.
sleep in	I slept in this morning.
slim down	You have slimmed down a lot since last spring break.
slip up	You must not slip up again.
slow down	You're going to fast. Please slow down.
smash into	The car smashed into the side of a bus.
sober up	Some coffee definitely won't sober them up.
sort itself out	Things will sort itself out by the end of the month.
speak up	Please speak up. I nearly can't hear you.
speak up for	You can speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves.
split up	We had to split the class up into two classes.
spread out	He told them to spread out and continue their search.
stand around	Don't stand around. Get busy!
stand by	Stand by while I search for another song.
stand in (for)	Sam is sick. Can you stand in for him?
stand up	She stood up and looked across the room.
start over	Sorry, I guess I messed this up, so can I start over?
start up	Start your car up and let's go.
stay over	Can my friend stay over, please?
steal away	She stole away while he was refilling her coffee.
step aside	Step aside, please. You're in my way.
stick together	We must stick together.
stop by	Please stop by before you go on vacation.
stop over	We stopped over in Chicago for two nights.
storm in(to)	He stormed into the room, shouting and yelling.
storm out (of)	He got angry and stormed out of the meeting.
straighten out	(1) We have to straighten this mess out.
	(2) They straightened out the line of people.
strip down	The doctor told me to strip down for the examination.
stumble (upon)	I just stumbled upon her.
sum up	Can you sum up the arguments of this essay?
swell up	I bumped my ankle and it swelled up.
switch off	I forgot to switch the TV off before I went to bed.
switch on	Can someone switch the light on, please?
T
take away	The police took her daughter away.
take apart	Don't take my TV apart.
take off	(1) When does your plane take off?
	(2) Sorry, I have to take off now.
	(3) Take your coat off, please.
take over	If you take over, you will be in charge.
talk back (to)	Don't ever talk back to her.
talk out	Let's just talk this matter out.
team up (with)	I don't want to team up with him.
tear off (of)	She tore the label off the bottle.
tell off	I should have told him off.
tell on	I'm going to call your father and tell on you.
think back (to)	Try and think back to the morning of June 5.
think over	I needed a few minutes to think it over.
think through	First, let me think this through and I'll call you tomorrow first in the morning.
think of	I quickly had to think of something.
think up	I'll think something up.
throw up	I was so nauseous I almost threw up.
tidy away	Please tidy your stuff away.
tidy up	Your room looks like a pig sty. You better tidy it up now.
trick into	He tried to trick her into doing it his way.
try out	Let's try out this candy store.
turn around/about	The car turned around and went the other way.
turn down	(1) He turned his collar down, when he entered her house.
	(2) Turn the music down a little, will you?
	(3) Our proposal was turned down.
turn in	I need some sleep. I'm going to turn in now.
turn in(to)	Turn in for some gas.
turn off	Could you please turn the radio off?
turn on	Don't forget to turn on the lights when the sun goes down.
turn up	(1) Turn your cuffs up, please.
	(2) Something always turns up.
	(3) Apparently, new evidence has turned up.
U
use up	You can use it up. I have more of it.
W
wake up	Wake up! We have to hit the road.
walk off	They didn't even say good-bye. They just walked off.
walk out (on)	My sister walked out on Fred because she was fed up with him.
watch over	Can you watch over the kids while we're gone.
watch out (for)	Watch out for the snakes in the bushes.
wear out	After weeks of learning for this stupid test, I'm worn out.
wipe off (of)	Don't use your sleeve to wipe the ice cream off of your hand.
work out	(1) Everything will work out in the end.
	(2) She needs to work out more often.
work over	They really worked him over.
wrap up	Wrap up the presents quickly.
write away for	I wrote away for a book on poetry.
Y
yell out	The pain caused me to yell out.
Z
zip up	I had better zip my jacket up.

* used in informal English

Thanks to Jennie, Josef and Kai.

---