Phrasal Verbs: B
Back down:
To retreat, relent. ex. "He didn't back down. He just kept on insulting me."
Back off:
Not follow a threat. To step back. ex. "The man threatened to call the cops, but he backed off when I said I would pay for the damages."
Back out (of):
To not keep (a promise, agreement,deal) ex. "The other investor backed out at the last second."
Back up:
(1) Move backward; Move in reverse. ex. "You still have some room to back up a bit."
(2) To confirm a story, facts, or information; To support. ex. "If you don't believe me, ask Bill. He'll back me up." (3) To make a copy (computer data, etc.)
Bail out on someone:
To leave someone (especially when they need you). ex. "That man bailed on his family when they needed him most." ex. "The Democrats have a plan to bail out the automotive industry."
Bail (someone) out:
To save (someone). ex. "The Democrats have a plan to bail out the automotive industry."
Bang up:
To damage. ex. "He banged up his car pretty bad."
Barge in:
To enter, interrupting something. ex. "He barged in while we were eating dinner."
Bawl out:
To scold. ex. "Mary's mother bawled her out for being mean to her sister."
Be after:
To look for. ex. "The pirates are after the treasure."
Be along:
To arrive. ex. "He'll be along in a bit."
Be down:
To be depressed. ex. "I've been feeling a little down recently."
Be down with:
*very informal* To be on good terms with something/someone. To like/respect someone/something.
Be in on:
To be a part of; to be involved with; to know about. ex. "They police are obviously in on the plan."
Be off:
(1) To be not quite right. ex. "The curry here is usually excellent, but today it's a little off."
(2) To not be at work (To have a day off work) ex. "I'm off today. Let's do something fun!"
Be on:
To have a very good/successful performance (usually said of musicians, comics, and other entertainers) ex. If you go to a concert and a musician is playing or singing really well - you can say "He's really on tonight!"
Be onto (someone):
To realize what someone is doing; to figure out someone's game, trick, etc. ex. He thought that he had everyone fooled, but I was onto him. (I realized what he was doing)
Be out of:
To have none left. ex. We're out of milk. = We have no more milk.
Be out to (do something):
To want to (do something). To have the intention of (doing something) ex. "He's out to kill me!"
Be up:
To be awake. ex. "I'm sorry, he's not up yet."
Be up to (something):
To be doing (something); To have something planned. ex. "What are you up to?", "I can tell that he's up to something."
Bear with (someone):
To be patient with someone. ex. "Bear with me, I'll be done in about 10 minutes."
Beat out:
To finish ahead of. ex. "Sandra beat out all the other contestants and finished first in the race."
Beat (someone) up:
To physically harm (someone). ex. "What happened to you!? One of the school bullies beat me up today."
Blare out:
To say/sing something very loudly.
Blast off:
To leave the ground (when speaking about a rocket).
Blow (someone) away:
To impress someone greatly. ex. "We were blown away by her performance."
Blow (someone) off:
To say no to someone (This term has a somewhat negative connotation). ex. "We invited them for dinner last weekend, but they just blew us off."
Blow over:
When speaking about a scandal, etc. - To stop becoming important. ex. "This scandal won't blow over any time soon."
Blow up:
To explode. To destroy by exploding. ex. "The car blew up after the gasoline caught fire. Thankfully no one was inside."
Boil down to:
To ammount to. ex. "What it boils down to is that I'm just not very interested."
Border on:
To be very close/similar to. ex. "His behavior borders on psychotic."
Boss (someone) around:
To tell someone what to do. ex. "I'm tired of her bossing me around!"
Bounce back:
To recover. ex. "The stock market will bounce back."
Branch out:
To explore new things, move into different areas (when speaking about a business, etc.) ex. "We were selling postcards, but we want to branch out into making envelopes."
Break down:
To stop working / functioning. ex. "My car broke down on the highway yesterday."
Break in / Break into:
To enter by using force (and breaking a lock, window, etc.) ex. "Someone broke into my apartment last night and stole all my CDs."
Break out (from prison, etc.):
To escape. ex. "Michael broke out of prison last week."
Break up:
(1)To disperse or scatter. ex. "The police had a hard time breaking up the crowd at the demonstration." (2) To end a personal relationship.
ex. "Fiona and Colin are no longer together. They broke up last week."
Brighten up:
To become better, most often used in the phrase "Things will brighten up."
Bring up:
(1) To mention (as a topic of discussion). ex. "Don't bring up his relationship with his brother - he's very sensitive about that."
(2) To raise. ex. "He was born in Houston, but he was brought up in Los Angeles."
Brush off:
To ignore. ex. "He brushed off every criticism."
Brush up on / Bone up on (*not as popular*):
To review/study thoroughly for a short time. ex. "I need to brush up on my French before my trip to Paris next month."
Bump into (or run into) someone:
To meet someone you know unexpectedly. ex. "I bumped into her at the party last night."
Burn down:
To completely destroy by fire. ex. "That house burned down last year."
Burn out:
To become exhausted (from doing something too long/too intensively, etc.); To become exhausted, unenthusiastic about a job due to boredom, stress, etc.
Butt in:
To impolitely interrupt (a conversation, an action). "Hey, don't butt in! Wait for your turn!" Buy into:
To accept/believe/trust. "I'm not gullible. I'm not buying into what he says."