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add up
- Calculate the total
- Why don't you add the figures up? You'll see that we really have spent more than we made
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back up
- Support, help
- Troops have been sent to the town to back the garrison up.
- Back me up, John. You know I didn't take the money.
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break down
- Cause to fall by breaking; make ineffective
- We broke the wall down using nothing more than our bare hands.
- World opinion helped break the barriers of apartheid down. Segregation is a thing of the past
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bring about
- o cause or produce
- If I had known that the affair would bring her death about I would never have spoken to her in the first place.
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bring back
- Remind someone of something
- The smell brought memories back. It reminded me of my grandmother's front room.
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bring down
- Make something fall
- The scandal will bring the government down. There's no way he can remain prime minister if he's gay.
- A clumsy tackle brought the player down before he got near the goal.
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bring forward
- Suggest, propose; advance in time
- He brought the idea forward that we should bring the meeting forward two hours so that everyone could avoid the heavy traffic.
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bring off
- Carry out to a successful conclusion
- I never thought they'd bring the rescue off. The building was so high and there were so many people that needed to get out.
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bring on
- Cause to appear or occur
- It was the terrible filth of the medieval streets that brought the plague on. The filth allowed the rats to flourish and with them the fleas that spread the terrible disease.
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bring out
- To make apparent
- Adversity brought the best out in his nature and showed that he was a hero indeed.
- Bring your best fighter out. We'll soon see who the champion is.
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bring over
- Fetch, carry, transport
- Bring the baby over here; I want to take a closer look at that infection.
- He brought a nice pie over for my dinner. He's so sweet. Shame there isn't more people like him.
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bring to
- Make yourself do something
- I couldn't bring myself to look at his body. It was horrible.
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bring up
- Raise, care for, nurture; mention, suggest
- We brought six children up in fifty years of marriage.
- I don't like to bring the question of pay up, but I think we're going to see the workers on strike if they don't get an immediate raise.
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brush aside
- To disregard, ignore or dismiss
- He brushed my suggestion aside immediately. Said it would be too expensive and the company could not afford it.
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brush out
- Touch or push gently or lightly
- It's only chalk. You can brush it out when it dries. The dress will be as good as new.
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brush up
- To revise or relearn
- I'm going to Germany next week. I'll have to brush my German up before I set off
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build in
- Make something an integral part of something else
- Manufacturers seem to build in obsolescence into their products these days. It seems to be a way of maintaining sales.
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burn down
- To cause to be destroyed by fire
- They burnt my house down by pushing a lit firework through the letter box. Thank heavens I was insured.
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buy out
- To purchase the share or interest of
- Google bought You Tube out for one point six billion dollars. I don't know what Google intend to do with their new acquisition.
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call off
- Cancel
- I'm calling the trip off because we don't have enough people to fill the coach.
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call up
- Summon together
- The general called his troops up ready for the attack.
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calm down
- Make or become quiet and tranquil
- When my daughter used to get upset it took hours to calm her down. Sometimes she would still be crying when her father came home.
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carry off
- Take something by force; (of disease) kill
- The thieves carried the chalice off, despite the vicar's protests.
- The plague carried thousands of people off, almost halving the population
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carry on
- Continue to do something
- We need to carry the business on. It's what Dad would have wanted. We can't close now, not after sixty three years.
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carry out
- To accomplish; put into execution
- I promise to carry the job out as fast as possible. We will be finished by Friday at the latest.
- I didn't think he would carry his threat out, but he fired her anyway.
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carry over
- To persist to another time or context
- Because I had studied the subject beforehand, I carried my confidence over to the actual job.
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carry through
- Accomplish or complete; endure or survive
- Despite the difficulties, we carried the project through to satisfactory completion.
- His unwavering enthusiasm carried them through a difficult and dangerous time.
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chat up
- Talk to someone to try to establish a romance
- He spent the night chatting her up, only to find out that she was already married.
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cheer up
- Make or become less miserable
- Is there nothing we can do to cheer Dad up? It's so sad to see him so miserable all the time since we lost Mum.
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chew over
- Consider a question or issue
- It's a big decision. I think we'll have to chew it over for a while before we say yes or no. I need to think about all the points you raised.
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chew up
- Cut into pieces with teeth; damage with a machine
- That new puppy's chewed my slippers up. I can't possibly wear them now.
- I switched to DVDs when my VHS machine started to chew the tapes up.
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chop back
- To cut vegetation away from somewhere
- Chop those bushes back; they're hiding the road signs from drivers. It's getting dangerous.
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chop down
- To fell trees with a saw, axe or tool
- They have chopped those beautiful trees down. The square looks so empty now.
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chop up
- To reduce to small pieces
- First you need to chop the onion up into pieces. Chop up the carrots, the mushrooms and the garlic and add the wine. Simmer over a low heat for about twenty minutes.
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clean off
- Remove a contaminant from something
- Before you start moving the books you need to clean the dust off them. They've been sitting here undisturbed for decades.
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clean out
- To take everything from someone or somewhere
- The burglars cleaned my house out. They even took my children's toys!
- I should never have gone into the casino. I lost two hundred pounds. Basically they cleaned me out.
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clean up
- Clean a place
- I want you to clean your bedroom up now or you won't be watching any television tonight, my girl. It looks like a bomb went off in it.
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clear out
- Remove or dispose of unwanted items or people
- I'm going to clear my garage out. There's so much junk in there that I can't get my car in anymore.
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clear up
- Medical) to be cured; tidy a place
- I don't need to go to the doctor now. That ointment you gave me has cleared my rash up.
- I'll clear the table up if you do the washing up. It's a bit of a mess.
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close down
- Close permanently
- It's a shame they closed that nice bookshop down on the corner. I'll have to find somewhere else to buy my books.
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close up
- business) Stop being open to custom or be in operation
- We spent a lot of money setting up the business, but it was obvious we were never going to make a profit. The only thing I could do was to close the business up and cut our losses.
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count in
- Include or involve
- Hey! Count me in! It sounds like a fantastic idea. I'd love to be a part of it.
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count out
- Exclude from something
- I'm sorry, but that's the stupidest idea I've ever heard. You can definitely count me out! There's no way I'm getting involved.
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count up
- To calculate the total
- "Could you count the money up, Sally? I need to take it to the bank before they close."
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cross out
- To mark writing to show that it is incorrect. Often with a line through the text.
- I made a lot of mistakes in that exam. I crossed them out and wrote the correct answers underneath, but I hope it doesn't affect my grade.
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cut back
- Reduce
- I think we should cut production back now that sales have reduced. Once Summer starts we can get back to full production
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cut down
- Reduce consumption; bring something to ground level.
- Cigarettes? I've cut them right down. Only smoke one or two a day now.
- The Easter Islanders cut all their trees down to move those huge stone heads. Then they had no fuel.
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cut off
- Disconnect; make inaccessible
- I forgot to pay the electricity bill and now they've cut me off. I can't watch TV and the house is freezing.
- The tide cuts the island off from the mainland and the only way to visit is by boat.
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cut out
- Exclude; remove a picture from a printed page
- I cut fat out from my diet and lost a lot of weight.
- Is that a photograph or did you cut the picture out from a magazine?
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cut up
- Reduce to smaller pieces; (vehicle) move suddenly into the path of a moving vehicle
- Cut up the bacon into bite-sized pieces then fry gently until cooked.
- If you hadn't cut me up at the lights I wouldn't have crashed into the back of your car.
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draw up
- Prepare plans in detail
- If the generals had drawn better plans up we might have won the battle.
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drum into
- Make someone learn through constant repetition
- I never did learn my times tables, even though they used to drum them into me every morning for hours at a time. I guess I'm just not very good at maths.
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drum out
- Expel from an organisation
- They drummed me out of the Army because I refused to fight. Now I'm happy to be a civilian again.
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duff up
- Assault
- When I was at school we had a bully who used to duff you up in the playground. It was as much as part of going to school as the morning register.
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dust out
- Clean something
- I need to dust the wardrobe out. It's filthy.
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eat up
- Consume food quickly
- Eat your dinner up before it gets cold.
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figure out
- Find the answer to a problem, realise
- It took me a while to figure the problem out, but once I had the answer it took only minutes to put it right.
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fill in
- Enrich with detail
- Could you fill the form in, please? Then sign it at the bottom.
- I'll fill you in with what I know about him, but remember I've only met him once. Most of what I know I've read in the papers.
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fill up
- Place contents into a container to maximum capacity
- We'd better fill the tank up with petrol at the next garage. I don't think we'll have another opportunity and there's a long way to go.
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find out
- Discover something
- I'm going to find the truth out if it takes six months, so you might as well tell me now.
- I read every book I could to find the details out about his life, but I still know hardly anything.
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fix up
- Make an arrangement; repair or refurbish
- Thank you for fixing that meeting up with your boss. He says that I can start working here next week.
- I'm going to fix the attic up so that Mum can stay with us. It'll make a nice spare room.
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get across
- Make clear or convince
- I knew that we could get our ideas across to him eventually. He's a man who likes new ventures.
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get on
- Enter a vehicle; mount a horse or cycle
- The train is leaving! Get on, or you'll miss it.
- How did the knights of old get on their horses with all that armour?
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give away
- Provide something for free, give
- He gave away to a beggar the diamond ring I had bought him. He was that kind of man - generous yet stupid.
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give back
- Return something
- "Give back the book," he said. I gave the book back. End of story.
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give out
- Distribute
- People are starving to death. We need to give the food out now, before it's too late.
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give up
- urrender; abandon something
- They forced him to give his job up. Now he's unemployed.
- He gave his fortune up just to be with the woman he loved. Now that really is love.
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hand down
- Transmit in succession
- They handed the money down from father to son for generations.
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hand over
- Pass control to someone else
- Spain has been wanting Britain to hand Gibraltar over to them for three hundred years.
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hand in
- To submit work for assessment
- I handed my homework in this morning. I hope I get a good grade.
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have on
- Keep electronic equipment switched on; possess; deceive
- She has her television on all day.
- I don't have any money on me. I'll have to pay you next week. Honestly! I'm not having you on.
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have over
- Receive a guest in your house
- Let's have Mum and Dad over for lunch on Sunday. It's Dad's birthday.
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hold back
- Keep from doing something
- The film was so sad I had to hold the tears back.
- If your dog bites me I'll call the police. I suggest that you hold him back.
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hold off
- Stop someone attacking you
- We held the enemy off for three days until the reinforcements finally arrived.
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hold out
- Offer something to the front
- I couldn't believe it. I stood there, held my hand out and he shook it. Can you believe it? I actually shook hands with him. I don't think I'll wash my hand again.
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hold up
- Delay; rob or steal from someone with threats
- If traffic hadn't held the police up they might have caught the robbers who held the bank up yesterday. The thieves got away with over ten thousand pounds.
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keep away
- Keep things separate from each other
- You should keep matches away from children at all times.
- Look! She doesn't like you and you don't like her. I've been asked to keep you away from her. Do you understand?
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keep up
- Prevent someone going to bed
- My neighbours had a party till five o'clock this morning. They kept me up all night. I even had to call the police, they were so noisy.
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lay down
- Give up something; establish a rule or law
- I think they say, "No greater love has a man than that he should lay his life down for his brother."
- Don't you going laying the law down here, young man. You're not the police!
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leave in
- Not taken or allowed out of something or somewhere
- I think we should leave the cat in the house tonight. She's scared of fireworks.
- You must have left the key in the lock when we left the house. I hope nobody has seen it.
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leave on
- Not switch something off
- Leave the computer on. We'll be using it again this afternoon. It'll go into power saving mode after ten minutes anyway.
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leave out
- Not include someone in something
- I was never any good at football at school and they always left me out of the team.
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let down
- Disappoint; make clothes longer
- I told you I wouldn't let you down. I know how important this day is to you, so I'll lend you this designer dress. You're a little taller than me so we'll have to let the hem down a bit, but I'm sure you'll look divine.
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