English Phrasal Verb Dictionary

List of English Phrasal Verbs Beginning With 'C'

Call (11)

Call after

- Name someone after somebody else

Call around

- Visit

Call back

- Return a phonecall

Call for

- Demand
- Go to collect something
- Telephone for something
- Go and collect someone to take them out
- Require

Call forth

- Make something happen

Call in

- Get someone to come and do a job
- Stop and visit

Call off

- Cancel
- Order someone to stop attacking

Call on

- Ask for help
- Visit
- Challenge
- Ask someone to do something, especially to speak in public. (Formal)

Call out

- Expose or accuse someone of wrongdoing or incompetence

Call round

- Visit

Call up

- Summon someone for military service
- Telephone

Calm (1)

Calm down

- Stop being angry or emotionally excited

Cancel (1)

Cancel out

- Have an opposite effect on something that has happened, taking things back to the beginning

Cap (1)

Cap off

- Finish or complete, often with some decisive action

Care (1)

Care for

- Like

Carried (1)

Carried away

- Get so emotional that you lose control

Carry (7)

Carry forward

- Include a figure in a later calculation
- Make something progress

Carry off

- Win, succeed
- Die of a disease

Carry on

- Continue
- Behave badly

Carry on with

- Have an affair

Carry out

- Perform a task
- Food bought from a restaurant to take away

Carry over

- Continue past a certain point

Carry through

- Complete successfully

Cart (1)

Cart off

- Take someone away, usually under arrest or to prison
- Take something away, especially if stealing or without permission

Carve (2)

Carve out

- Create or get a area where you can be special or successful

Carve up

- Divide into smaller pieces
- Overtake someone and then pull directly in front of a car

Cash (4)

Cash in

- Convert shares, bonds, casino chips, etc, into money

Cash in on

- Benefit or make money on something, especially if done unfairly

Cash out

- Illegally access a bank account or credit card and steal money
- Exchange something for money, collect winnings

Cash up

- Count all the money taken in a shop or business at the end of the day

Cast (7)

Cast about for

- Try to find something

Cast around for

- Try to find something

Cast aside

- Dispose, get rid of, ignore because you no longer like something or someone

Cast off

- Dispose, get rid of
- Untie a boat so it's free to sail

Cast out

- Expel, reject

Cast round for

- Try to find something

Cast up

- Be left on the shore by the sea

Catch (7)

Catch at

- Take or grab hold of something

Catch on

- Become popular
- Finally understand what is going on

Catch out

- Trick
- Discover or prove that someone is lying
- Put someone in an unexpected and difficult situation (often passive)

Catch up

- Get work, etc, up to date.
- Reach someone who was ahead of you

Catch up in

- Become involved, often against one’s will

Catch up on

- Do something that should have been done earlier
- Reminisce with an old friend after not seeing them for a while

Catch up with

- Do something that should have been done earlier
- Meet someone after a period of time and find out what they have been doing
- When something negative starts to have an effect
- Punish someone after they have been doing something wrong for a long time
- Learn something new that many people already understand

Cater (2)

Cater for

- To provide what is necessary

Cater to

- To provide what is needed, often seen negatively

Cave (1)

Cave in

- Collapse
- Stop resisting or refusing

Chalk (3)

Chalk out

- To cut a line of cocaine

Chalk up

- To achieve something good

Chalk up to

- Explain the reason for a problem

Chance (1)

Chance upon

- Find something by accident

Change (1)

Change over

- Change a system

Charge (2)

Charge up

- Put electricity into a battery

Charge with

- Accuse somebody of a crime

Chase (3)

Chase down

- Try hard to find or get something

Chase off

- Force a person to leave or go away

Chase up

- Ensure that someone remembers to do something
- Try to get someone to pay a bill, debt, etc
- Try to get more information about the progress of something

Chat (1)

Chat up

- Talk to someone you are sexually interested in to get them interested in you

Cheat (2)

Cheat on

- Be sexually unfaithful
- Deceive or betray, often in a sexual and/or emotional context

Cheat out of

- Get money from someone under false pretences

Check (7)

Check by

- Visit a place to check something

Check in

- Register on arriving at a hotel or at the airport

Check into

- Register on arriving at a hotel or at the airport

Check off

- Mark something on a list as done

Check out

- Pay the bill when leaving a hotel
- Die
- Stop paying attention
- Get information about or inspect something to see if it's satisfactory
- Get information about or inspect something to see if it's satisfactory

Check out of

- Settle up and pay before leaving a hotel

Check over

- Check something very carefully

Cheer (2)

Cheer on

- Encourage

Cheer up

- Be less unhappy

Chew (5)

Chew off

- Remove by biting

Chew on

- Thinks about something carefully before deciding

Chew out

- Criticize someone angrily

Chew over

- Think about an issue

Chew up

- Cut into small pieces with your teeth
- Damage something inside a machine

Chicken (1)

Chicken out

- Be too afraid to do something

Chill (1)

Chill out

- Relax

Chime (1)

Chime in

- Contribute to a discussion

Chip (2)

Chip away at

- Gradually reduce something to make it less powerful, effective, etc

Chip in

- Contribute some money
- Contribute to a discussion

Choke (3)

Choke off

- Stop or restrict

Choke out

- Clog or overwhelm

Choke up

- Become tearfully emotional
- Grip a handle farther from the end for better control

Choose (1)

Choose up

- Form groups or teams
- Form groups or teams

Chop (2)

Chop down

- Fell or cut down a tree

Chop up

- Cut into small pieces

Chow (2)

Chow down

- Eat

Chow down on

- Eat something

Chuck (4)

Chuck away

- Dispose of something you no longer need or want

Chuck in

- Quit something
- Make a comment

Chuck out

- Dispose of something you no longer need or want

Chuck up

- Vomit, be sick
- Quit something

Churn (1)

Churn out

- Produce, usually quickly or in large amounts without much regard to quality

Clag (1)

Clag up

- Make something sticky

Clam (1)

Clam up

- Be quiet, refuse to speak

Clamp (1)

Clamp down on

- Restrict or try to stop something

Claw (1)

Claw back

- Get money back
- Retake possession with difficulty
- Regain possession with difficulty

Clean (3)

Clean off

- Remove dirt or something dirty

Clean out

- Tidy up thoroughly and throw away unwanted things.
- Cause someone to spend all their money

Clean up

- Tidy and clean
- Profit, sometimes suddenly

Clear (4)

Clear away

- Leave a place
- Remove or tidy

Clear off

- Leave somewhere quickly

Clear out

- Tidy up thoroughly and throw away unwanted stuff.
- Leave somewhere

Clear up

- Cure or recover from an infection
- Tidy up
- Explain
- Improve (weather)

Click (1)

Click through

- Open an advertisement on the Internet

Climb (1)

Climb down

- Accept that you are wrong and change your position

Cling (3)

Cling on

- Hold tight

Cling on to

- Try to keep something

Cling to

- Try to maintain beliefs, hopes, etc.

Clog (1)

Clog up

- Block, slow movement right down

Close (8)

Close down

- Close a shop, branch or business permanently
- Stop an opponent being a challenge

Close in

- Surround, envelop
- Approach, get near

Close in on

- Get near someone

Close in upon

- Get near someone

Close off

- Block a place to stop people entering

Close on

- Get nearer

Close out

- Bring something to an end
- Close or stop using
- Ignore, exclude

Close up

- Completely close something
- Join together
- Move closer together

Cloud (1)

Cloud over

- Get very cloudy

Clown (2)

Clown about

- Behave stupidly or waste time

Clown around

- Behave stupidly or waste time

Coast (1)

Coast along

- Do something without making much effort or trying to improve

Cobble (1)

Cobble together

- Make, assemble or produce something quickly, without much care

Cock (1)

Cock up

- Ruin or spoil something

Colour (1)

Colour (Color) up

- Blush

Come (36)

Come about

- Happen, occur
- Shift direction (nautical)

Come across

- Find by accident
- Agree to have sex with someone
- The way other people see you

Come along

- Accompany
- Move faster or keep up

Come apart

- Break into pieces

Come around

- Recover consciousness

Come around to

- Agree with or accept something you had previously disapproved of or disliked.

Come back

- Return

Come before

- Appear in court charged with a crime or offence

Come by

- Visit
- Acquire

Come down

- Rain
- Travel

Come down on

- Criticise heavily

Come down upon

- Criticise, reprimand severely

Come down with

- Fall ill

Come forth

- Appear

Come forth with

- Provide information

Come from

- Country or town where you were born

Come in

- Arrive for flights
- Place or ranking in a competition, etc.
- Receive news

Come in for

- Receive (criticism or praise)

Come into

- Be important or relevant
- Inherit

Come into use

- Start being used

Come off

- When something breaks off
- Be successful

Come off it

- I don't believe what you're saying; used as an imperative

Come on

- Encouragement
- Start an illness
- Start functioning (machines, etc)

Come out

- A secret is revealed
- Be published or otherwise available to the public
- Disappear when washed
- Let people know that you are lesbian or gay
- When the sun appears

Come out in

- Have a rash or similar skin problem

Come out of

- Recover consciousness

Come out with

- Make something available
- Say something publicly and unexpectedly

Come over

- Feel strange
- Affect mentally in such a way as to change behaviour (possibly related to 'overcome')

Come round

- Become conscious, wake up from anaesthetic
- Change your opinion

Come through

- Arrive (messages and information)
- Communicate an emotion
- Produce a result

Come through with

- Provide something needed

Come to

- Become conscious, wake up from anaesthetic
- Result in

Come up

- Appear
- Rise (the sun)

Come up against

- Encounter problems or difficulties

Come up with

- Think of a solution, excuse, etc.

Come upon

- Find by chance

Conjure (1)

Conjure up

- Create a picture or memory in someone's mind
- Create something without many resources

Conk (1)

Conk out

- Fall fast asleep
- Suddenly breakdown or stop working

Contract (3)

Contract in

- Become involved or committed to something

Contract out

- Give a contract for a service outside the company you work for

Contract out of

- Formally leave and agreement

Cool (2)

Cool down

- Get cooler
- Become calm

Cool off

- Become calmer

Coop (1)

Coop up

- Confine in a small area

Cop (3)

Cop it

- Get into trouble

Cop off

- Leave work or school early
- Kiss, pet or have sex with someone

Cop out

- Choose an easy alternative

Cost (1)

Cost up

- Calculate how expensive some work is going to be

Cotton (1)

Cotton on

- To work out the truth

Cough (1)

Cough up

- Lose possession of a ball, etc. in a contact sport
- Expel something from your lungs or throat by coughing

Could (1)

Could do with

- Need or want something

Count (11)

Count against

- Affect negatively, make less likely to succeed

Count among

- Include someone or something in a group, category, etc

Count down

- Wait impatiently or excitedly for something to happen

Count for

- Be recognised as important, worthwhile or valuable

Count in

- Include or involve

Count off

- Say numbers aloud in a sequence

Count on

- Depend, rely
- Expect something to happen and base plans on it

Count out

- Exclude
- Count a certain amount of money

Count towards

- Be a part needed to complete something

Count up

- Add

Count upon

- Expect something to happen and base plans on it
- Depend, rely

Cover (2)

Cover for

- Provide an excuse or alibi
- Do someone's work while they are temporarily absent

Cover up

- Conceal, try to stop people finding out

Cozy (2)

Cozy up

- Make yourself comfortable

Cozy up to

- Make yourself popular with someone

Crack (3)

Crack down on

- Use more authority than usual

Crack on

- Continue doing something with energy

Crack up

- Have a nervous breakdown
- Have bad reception on a mobile phone
- Burst out laughing
- Damage a car badly

Crank (2)

Crank out

- Produce a lot of something fast

Crank up

- Inject non-medical drugs
- Start a machine, originally with a handle
- Increase, make something bigger

Crash (1)

Crash out

- Sleep at someone's house because you are too tired, drunk, etc. to leave
- Fall asleep

Cream (1)

Cream off

- Separate the best or most talented people so that they can receive special or different treatment
- Take money or divert funds, usually wrongfully or unfairly

Creep (6)

Creep in

- Start to be noticeable
- Get included despite attempts to keep it or them out

Creep into

- Become noticeable in something

Creep out

- make someone feel worried or uneasy

Creep out on

- To do the same activity for a very long time

Creep over

- Start to have a negative feeling

Creep up on

- Approach without someone realising

Crop (1)

Crop up

- Appear unexpectedly

Cross (3)

Cross off

- Delete, remove from a list

Cross out

- Put as line through some writing to show it is wrong

Cross up

- Confuse, deceive

Cruise (1)

Cruise through

- Pass or succeed easily

Crumb (1)

Crumb down

- Clear a table in a restaurant

Cry (2)

Cry off

- To cancel an arrangement

Cry out

- Shout because you are in pain

Cut (11)

Cut across

- Go across a place rather than around it to make the journey quicker
- Affect people of different groups, classes, etc

Cut back

- Reduce
- Remove branches from a plant or tree to encourage future growth

Cut back on

- Reduce expenditure

Cut down

- Consume less
- Shoot
- Reduce a vertical thing to ground level by cutting
- Cut something from a high position

Cut down on

- Reduce

Cut in

- Start functioning
- Drive in front of another vehicle without warning
- Interrupt
- Include someone in a deal that makes money
- Mix fat and flour until the combine

Cut it out

- Stop your unfair or unreasonable behaviour

Cut off

- Disconnect
- Isolate or make inaccessible

Cut out

- Exclude
- When an engine or motor stops
- Cut a picture or similar from a magazine, etc
- Leave quickly
- Separate livestock from a group

Cut out on

- Let down, snub

Cut up

- Cut into smaller pieces
- Drive into a neighbouring lane, directly in front of another vehicle
- Upset
- Have a lot of small injuries

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