UNITS 23&24 • PAT Flashcards
answer (someone) back
uk |ˈɑːn.sər| us |ˈæn.sɚ|
verb
1. to speak rudely when answering someone in authority
* “Don’t you dare answer me back, young lady!”
answer back
uk |ˈɑːn.sər| us |ˈæn.sɚ|
verb
1. to react to criticism by arguing or explaining
* “The company criticized in the documentary was given the opportunity to answer back.”
ask someone out
uk |ɑːsk| us |æsk|
verb
1. to invite someone to come with you to a place such as the cinema or a restaurant, especially as a way of starting a romantic relationship
* “She’s asked Steve out to the cinema this evening.”
* “You should ask her out sometime.”
break something up
uk |breɪk| us |breɪk|
verb
1. to divide into many pieces, or to divide something into many pieces
* “The company has been broken up and sold off.”
break (something) up
uk |breɪk| us |breɪk|
verb
1. If an occasion when people meet breaks up or someone breaks it up, it ends and people start to leave
* “The meeting broke up at ten to three.”
* “I don’t want to break up the party but I have to go now.”
break up
uk |breɪk| us |breɪk|
verb
1. If a marriage breaks up or two people in a romantic relationship break up, their marriage or their relationship ends
* “[break up with] She’s just broken up with her boyfriend.”
* “Jenny and George have broken up.”
2. When schools and colleges, or the teachers and students who go to them break up, their classes stop and the holidays start [UK]
* “We broke up for the holidays in June.”
3. If someone who is talking on a mobile phone is breaking up, their voice can no longer be heard clearly.
break-up
uk |ˈbreɪk.ʌp| us |ˈbreɪk.ʌp|
noun
1. a gradual division into smaller pieces [S]
* “It was feared that the break-up of the oil tanker would result in further pollution.”
2. the coming to an end of a business or personal relationship, caused by the separation of those involved [C]
* “Long separations had contributed to their marriage break-up.”
* “The break-up of the pop group came as no surprise.”
bring out the best in someone
collocation
1. to make someone’s best qualities more noticeable
* “A crisis can bring out the best in people.”
* “A good conductor will bring out the best in an orchestra.”
bring someone/something together
uk |brɪŋ| us |brɪŋ|
verb
1. to help people or groups to become friendly or to do something together, especially when they would not usually do this
* “The disaster brought the community together.”
* “A common interest in chess brought them together.”
2. to combine a number of people, things, or activities in one place, under one title, for one purpose, etc.
* “A school brings together in a single location many activities of educational value.”
* “The exhibition brought together works by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, and Walker Evans.”
bump into someone
uk |bʌmp| us |bʌmp|
verb
1. to meet someone you know when you have not planned to meet them
* “We bumped into Amy when we were in town last week.”
bump into someone/something
collocation
1. to hit someone or something with your body, usually by accident
* “There was no room to move without bumping into someone.”
* “She bumped into his tray, knocking the food onto his lap.”
cancel something out
uk |ˈkæn.səl| us |ˈkæn.səl|
verb
1. to remove the effect of one thing by doing another thing that has the opposite effect
* “This month’s pay cheque will cancel out his debt, but it won’t give him any extra money.”
come between someone
uk |kʌm| us |kʌm|
verb
1. If something comes between two people, it harms their relationship
* “Don’t let one little quarrel come between you.”
come between something
uk |kʌm| us |kʌm|
verb
1. to stop someone from doing something that they like doing
* “Nothing comes between Jim and his food.”
crowd around (someone/something)
uk |kraʊd| us |kraʊd|
verb
1. to come together closely in a crowd around someone or something
* “As soon as he appeared, reporters crowded round.”
go together
uk |ɡəʊ| us |ɡoʊ|
verb
1. to look good together
* “Do you think the cream dress and the blue jacket go together?”
meet up
uk |miːt| us |miːt|
verb
1. to meet another person in order to do something together
* “They suggested we meet up at Mustafa’s.”
2. If roads or paths meet up, they join at a particular place.
open (something) up
uk |ˈəʊ.pən| us |ˈoʊ.pən|
verb
1. to open the lock on the door of a building
* “The caretaker opens up the school every morning at seven.”
open something up
uk |ˈəʊ.pən| us |ˈoʊ.pən|
verb
1. to improve a situation by making it less limited
* “The government has announced plans to open up access to higher education.”
2. to show something that was hidden or not previously known
* “The debate could open up sharp differences between the countries.”
open someone up
uk |ˈəʊ.pən| us |ˈoʊ.pən|
verb
1. to do a medical operation on someone to see inside their body
* “When they opened her up, they couldn’t find anything wrong with her.”
open up
uk |ˈəʊ.pən| us |ˈoʊ.pən|
verb
1. to start to talk more about yourself and your feelings
* “[open up to] I’ve never opened up to anyone like I do to you.”
pick on someone
uk |pɪk| us |pɪk|
verb
1. to criticize, punish, or be unkind to the same person often and unfairly
* “He gets picked on by the other boys because he’s so small.”
sound someone out
uk |saʊnd| us |saʊnd|
verb
1. to discover informally what someone thinks or intends to do about a particular thing, so that you can be prepared or take suitable action
* “Perhaps you could sound the chairwoman out before the meeting, to see which way she’s going to vote?”
take after someone
uk |teɪk| us |teɪk|
verb
1. to be similar to an older member of your family in appearance or character
* “He takes after his mother/his mother’s side of the family.”
take
uk |teɪk| us |teɪk|
verb
1. to remove something, especially without permission [T]
* “Has anything been taken (= stolen)?”
* “Here’s your pen - I took it by mistake.”
* “[be taken from] All her possessions had been taken from her.”
2. to subtract a number (= remove it from another number) [T]
* “[take something (away) from something] If you take 4 (away) from 12 you get 8.”
|[+ -ing
verb
1. to show someone how to get to somewhere by going there with them [T]
* “[take someone to something] Let me take you to your room.”
2. to go to a social event with someone [T]
* “[take someone to something] Who’s taking you to the dance?”
3. to travel somewhere by using a particular form of transport or a particular vehicle, route, etc. [T]
* “I always take the train - it’s less hassle than a car.”
* “She took the 10.30 flight to Edinburgh.”
* “If you take the road on the left, you’ll come to the post office.”
4. to need [T]
* “Parachuting takes a lot of nerve.”
* “Transitive verbs take a direct object.”
* ”[+ -ing verb] His story took some believing (= was difficult to believe).”
5. to wear a particular size of clothes or shoes
* “What size shoes do you take?”
6. If something takes a particular time, that period is needed in order to complete it [L only + noun]
* “The cooking process only takes ten minutes.”
* ”[+ to infinitive] How long does this paint take to dry?”
* ”[+ obj + noun] It took us all day to drive home.”
take
uk |teɪk| us |teɪk|
noun
1. money that is received from sales or as payment for entrance to an event [U]
* “The box office take was huge for the new show.”
2. the filming of a scene (= small part of a film) [C]
* “This scene needed ten takes before we felt it was right.”
born into something
collocation
1. born as part of a particular type of family, or in a particular condition or situation
* “Diana was born into an aristocratic family.”
* “She was not born into privilege, but has worked hard to achieve her current position.”
