abide by| Accept, follow or obey a decision, agreement or rule| I have to ABIDE BY what my father says. account for| To explain| Can he account for his action? ache for| Want something or someone a lot| My partner’s been away for a fortnight- I am ACHING FOR her. …
back away|Retreat or go backwards|The crowd BACKED AWAY when the man pulled a knife.|1 back down|Retract or withdraw your position or proposal in an argument|She refused to BACK DOWN and was fired.|1 back into|Enter a parking area in reverse gear|He prefers to BACK his car INTO the garage.|_ back off|Retreat|The …
call after|Name someone after somebody else|She was CALLED Rose AFTER her late grandmother.|_ call around|Visit|I CALLED AROUND but she wasn’t in.|_ call at|Enter a harbour or port|The cruise ship CALLED AT Malta.|1 call back|Return a phonecall|I must CALL her BACK when we get to the office.|1 call for|Demand|The Opposition party …
damp down|Calm or reduce feelings, emotions|They tried to DAMP DOWN the anger over the announcement.|_ damp off|When there is too much moisture and a plant is affected by fungal parasites|The seedlings DAMP OFF in the spring if it’s very wet.|_ dash down|Write something quickly|He DASHED DOWN a memo and sent …
ease off|Reduce pressure|She EASED OFF the accelerator to let the car slow down.|1 ease up|Relax, calm down|She asked her teacher to EASE UP because she was feeling very stressed.|1 eat away|Destroy slowly|The disease EATS the liver AWAY.|1 eat in|Eat at home|We didn’t feel like going to a restaurant so we …
face off|Confront|The company FACED OFF the competition.|1 face up to|Accept an unpleasant truth|Many people find it hard to FACE UP TO the fact that they are getting old.|_ faff about|Behave indecisively|He told her to stop FAFFING ABOUT and make her mind up.|_ faff around|Behave indecisively|She told him to stop FAFFING …
gad about|Visit a lot of different places for pleasure|I spent the afternoon GADDING ABOUT in the West End.|_ gad around|Visit different places for pleasure|I spent the afternoon GADDING AROUND looking for some books.|_ gag for|Want something a lot|I’m GAGGING FOR a drink.|_ gang up|Form a group against something or someone|They …
hack around|Waste time|I’ve been HACKING AROUND all morning because I can’t get down to doing any revision.|_ hack into|Break into a computer system|He HACKED INTO the government database and stole a lot of data.|_ hack off|Annoy|He HACKS me OFF with his endless complaining.|_ hack up|Chop or cut into small pieces|They …
ice over|Become covered with ice|The pond has ICED OVER.|1 ice up|Become covered with ice in a way that stops something from working well|The engine had ICED UP and wouldn’t start.|1 iron out|Remove small problems or irregularities|The management team IRONED OUT the tax problems before they gave the project the OK.|1 …
jabber away|Talk fast or incomprehensibly|They started JABBERING AWAY about file systems and lost me completely.|_ jack around|Make trouble for someone, fail to keep promises|Don’t listen to him- he always JACKS people AROUND.|_ jack in|Quit, give up|I JACKED my job IN because my boss refused to give me a raise.|_ jack …