UNITS 21&22 • PAT Flashcards
brighten up
collocation
1. If the weather brightens up, it becomes lighter and less cloudy, with more sun
* “I hope the weather brightens up in time for our walk.”
* “It was rainy this morning, but it brightened up after lunch.”
2. to become happier or more full of hope
* “Alex brightened up when he heard the word “dinner”.”
* “Helga’s face suddenly brightened up.”
brush up (on) something
uk |brʌʃ| us |brʌʃ|
verb
1. to improve your knowledge of something already learned but partly forgotten
* “I thought I’d brush up (on) my French before going to Paris.”
check out
uk |tʃek| us |tʃek|
verb
1. to leave a hotel after paying and returning your room key
* “[check out of] We checked out of our hotel at 5 a.m. to catch a 7 a.m. flight.”
* “Please remember to leave your room key at reception when you check out.”
2. to pay for goods at a shop or online [mainly US]
* “There was a 45 minute queue to check out at the supermarket.”
* “When you’re ready to check out, click here to go to the payment page.”
check someone out
uk |tʃek| us |tʃek|
verb
1. to find out information about someone
* “I hired a private investigator to check him out.”
* “They’ll check you out thoroughly, including giving you a medical, to make sure you’re right for the job.”
* “She’s an interesting writer — I highly recommend you check her out.”
2. to look at someone or something because you want to find out more about them [informal]
* “The neighbours here all check you out when they think you’re not looking.”
* “The kitten was shy at first, but came over to check us out.”
3. to look at someone because you think they are attractive and you may be romantically or sexually interested in them [informal]
* “I admit, I was checking you out.”
* “I was at the bar and some guy was checking me out.”
check something out
uk |tʃek| us |tʃek|
verb
1. to examine something or get more information about it in order to be certain that it is true, safe, or suitable [informal]
* “We’ll need to check out his story.”
liven (something) up
uk |ˈlaɪ.vən| us |ˈlaɪ.vən|
verb
1. to become more interesting and exciting, or to make something become like this
* “A new coat of paint would liven the kitchen up.”
* “Liven up your meals with fresh herbs and spices.”
* “The party livened up as soon as Sally arrived.”
liven (someone) up
uk |ˈlaɪ.vən| us |ˈlaɪ.vən|
verb
1. to become more energetic or in a better mood, or to make someone feel this way
* “She was subdued to start with, but after a while she livened up.”
* “I’m going to liven myself up a little by going for a run.”
make someone/something over
uk |meɪk| us |meɪk|
verb
1. to improve something or someone by working on or changing various parts
* “Ed Carey has been chosen to make over the losing football team.”
mess something up
uk |mes| us |mes|
verb
1. to make something dirty or untidy
* “Who’s messed up the bookshelf?”
mess (something) up
uk |mes| us |mes|
verb
1. to spoil or damage something, or to do something wrong or badly
* “I messed up my chances of becoming a great singer.”
* “He says that his divorce has really messed his life up.”
* “You really messed up this time.”
mess someone up
uk |mes| us |mes|
verb
1. to cause someone to suffer emotional and mental problems
* “Drugs can really mess you up.”
2. to hit someone repeatedly so that they are badly injured [US slang]
mess-up
uk |ˈmes.ʌp| us |ˈmes.ʌp|
noun
1. something that has been done badly
* “He made a real mess-up of the sales figures.”
paper over something
uk |ˈpeɪ.pər| us |ˈpeɪ.pɚ|
verb
1. to hide an unpleasant situation, especially a problem or disagreement, in order to make people believe that it does not exist or is not serious
* “He tried to paper over the country’s deep-seated problems.”
patch something up
uk |pætʃ| us |pætʃ|
verb
1. to try to improve a relationship after there have been problems
* “Jackie and Bill are still trying to patch up their marriage.”
* “Did you manage to patch things up with her after your row?”
2. to repair something, especially in a simple and temporary way
patch someone/something up
uk |pætʃ| us |pætʃ|
verb
1. to give basic medical care to someone that helps them temporarily
* “If you’ve cut your hand, the first-aider will patch you up.”
pick someone/something up
uk |pɪk| us |pɪk|
verb
1. to lift someone or something using your hands
* “If she starts to cry, pick her up and give her a cuddle.”
* “I picked up the kids’ clothes that were lying on the floor.”
* “I went to pick up the phone/receiver, but it had stopped ringing.”
2. to collect, or to go and get, someone or something
* “When you’re in town could you pick up the books I ordered?”
* “Whose turn is it to pick the children up after school?”
* “The crew of the sinking tanker were picked up (= saved from the sea) by helicopter.”
pick something up
uk |pɪk| us |pɪk|
verb
1. to learn a new skill or language by practising it rather than being taught it
* “Don’t bother with the computer manual - you’ll pick it up as you go along.”
* “When you live in a country you soon pick up the language.”
2. to learn interesting or useful information from someone or something
* “The nurse had picked up the information from a conversation she overheard.”
3. to buy something cheaply
* “[pick up a bargain] She picked up some real bargains in the sale.”
pick (something) up
uk |pɪk| us |pɪk|
verb
1. to start something again after an interruption
* “The author picks the same theme up again on page ten.”
* “[pick up where someone left off] Let’s pick up where we left off yesterday.”
pick someone up
uk |pɪk| us |pɪk|
verb
1. (of the police) to stop someone and take them to a police station in order to be questioned or arrested [UK informal]
* “[be picked up for] He was picked up by the police for drug dealing.”
* “The police picked her up just outside Canterbury.”
2. to start a sexual or romantic relationship with someone you do not know, by talking to that person and giving them a lot of attention [informal]
* “He said he’d picked the woman up in a bar.”
pick up (something)
uk |pɪk| us |pɪk|
verb
1. to increase or improve
* “The truck picked up speed slowly.”
* “The wind always picks up in the evening.”
* “The number of applicants will pick up during the autumn.”
* “His spirits picked up when he got the good news.”
* “Her career only began to pick up when she was in her forties.”
2. to answer the phone
* “I tried his home number but he didn’t pick up.”
3. to tidy a room [US]
* “I picked up, but I didn’t vacuum.”
* “Pick up your room - you’d think a pig lived here!”
run someone/something down
uk |rʌn| us |rʌn|
verb
1. to criticize someone or something, often unfairly [informal]
* “He’s always running himself down.”
2. to hit and injure a person or animal with a vehicle, especially intentionally
* “Two masked men on motorbikes tried to run me down.”
3. to find someone or something after following or searching for him, her, or it for a long time
* “[run someone/something down in/to something] I finally ran Mr Green down in/to a house in the country.”
run (something) down
uk |rʌn| us |rʌn|
verb
1. to reduce a business or organization in size or importance, or to become reduced in this way [UK]
* “The government is secretly running down the troop levels.”
2. If a machine or device such as a clock or battery runs down, it loses power, or if you run it down, you cause this to happen
* “These batteries can be recharged when they run down.”
* “You’ll run the battery down if you leave your car lights on.”
run something down
uk |rʌn| us |rʌn|
verb
1. If a large ship runs down a smaller one, it hits it.
run yourself down
uk |rʌn| us |rʌn|
verb
1. to make yourself tired and ill
* “Since he took that extra job, he’s really run himself down.”
run-down
uk |ˌrʌnˈdaʊn| us |ˌrʌnˈdaʊn|
adjective
1. Run-down buildings or areas are in very bad condition
* “a run-down building/cemetery”
2. tired and not healthy, especially because of working too much [after verb]
* “My doctor said I was looking run-down.”
scrape through (something)
uk |skreɪp| us |skreɪp|
verb
1. to succeed in something but with a lot of difficulty
* “He managed to scrape through his final exams.”
smarten (someone/something) up
uk |ˈsmɑː.tən| us |ˈsmɑːr.tən|
verb
1. to (cause to) become more clean, tidy, and stylish
* “She’s really smartened herself up since she finished college.”
* “You’ll have to smarten up if you want to work in television.”
stand out
uk |stænd| us |stænd|
verb
1. to be very noticeable
* “The black lettering really stands out on that orange background.”
2. to be much better than other similar things or people
* “[stand out from] We had lots of good applicants for the job, but one stood out from the rest.”
touch something up
uk |tʌtʃ| us |tʌtʃ|
verb
1. to improve something by making small changes or additions
* “She touched up her lipstick and brushed her hair.”
* “We thought the photo had probably been touched up, because he looked so much younger in it.”
touch someone up
uk |tʌtʃ| us |tʌtʃ|
verb
1. to touch someone’s body in a sexual way without their permission
* “She claimed that he had tried to touch her up.”
waste away
uk |weɪst| us |weɪst|
verb
1. to gradually get thinner and weaker, in a way that is unhealthy
* “You get thinner every time I see you, Sara - you’re wasting away!”
write something off
uk |raɪt| us |raɪt|
verb
1. to accept that an amount of money has been lost or that a debt will not be paid
* “The World Bank is being urged to write off debts from developing countries.”
2. to be able to use the cost of something you have bought to reduce the amount of tax you owe
* “You might be able to write off the car as a business expense.”
3. to damage a vehicle so badly that it cannot be repaired [UK]
* “His car was completely written off in the accident.”
write someone/something off
uk |raɪt| us |raɪt|
verb
1. to decide that a particular person or thing will not be useful, important, or successful
* “A lot of companies seem to write people off if they’re over 50.”
write-off
uk |ˈraɪ.tɒf| us |ˈraɪ.t̬ɑːf|
noun
1. a period of time during which you fail to achieve anything
* “Yesterday was a complete write-off as far as work is concerned.”
2. a vehicle that is too damaged to be worth repairing [UK]
* “She wasn’t hurt, but the car’s a complete write-off.”
have something down to a fine art
idiom
1. to be able to do something very well or quickly, often because you have done it so many times
go from bad to worse
idiom
1. If a situation goes from bad to worse, it was difficult and unpleasant, and is becoming even more so
* “Things have gone from bad to worse.”
bad blood
uk |ˌbæd ˈblʌd| us |ˌbæd ˈblʌd|
noun
1. feelings of hate between people because of arguments in the past
* “There has been bad blood between the two families for years.”
make the best of
phrase
1. to make an unsatisfactory situation as pleasant as possible
* “We’ll have to spend the night here, so we might as well make the best of it.”
* “We’ll just have to make the best of a bad situation.”
* “It was in her nature to make the best of whatever came along.”
* “He had to do the worst jobs, but he made the best of it.”
* “It was a matter of pooling our resources and making the best of it.”
for the best
phrase
1. If an action is for the best, it is done to improve a situation or produce a good result, although it might seem unpleasant at the time
* “Ending a relationship is always hard but in this case it’s for the best.”
* “She is finding it hard to persuade teachers that these changes in classroom practice are for the best.”
* “The last thing I wanted was for my parents to go into a nursing home, but in the end even I could see it was for the best.”
* “The cast didn’t attempt a Spanish accent, which was definitely for the best.”
* “Most people thought it was for the best that the senator stood down.”
