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Food Phrasal Verbs

If you 'bolt down' food, you eat it very quickly. This expression is informal.

• He bolted down the food. He really enjoyed it.
• I'm so busy that I'm going to bolt down some food and get straight back to work.

If you 'wolf down' food, you also eat it quickly but specifically because you are hungry. This is also informal.

• Did you see the way she wolfed down that food? She must have been ravenous.
• After the marathon, I wolfed down some fish and chips.

If you consume a lot of drink (usually alcohol) quickly, you 'knock it back'. This is informal and is often used quite negatively.

• He was knocking back the champagne at the reception.
• We must watch Bill carefully in the bar with the clients. He can really knock it back.

If you eat an excessive amount of food, you 'pig out'. This is informal.

• I'm not hungry because I pigged out on chocolate this afternoon.
• We really pigged out in the restaurant.

If you 'plough through' some food, you eat it all but with some difficulty because there is a lot of it. In American English, 'plough' can be written as 'plow'.

• He served a huge plate of spaghetti and it took me ages to plough my way through it.
• They served us snake. I didn't like it but I plowed my way through it to be polite.

If you 'put away' food or drink, it can mean you eat or drink a lot of it. (Obviously, it can also mean that you place the food or drink in a fridge or cupboard – the context of the sentence should make clear the meaning.)

• Watch Peter. He's been putting away a lot of beer and he sometimes turns aggressive when he's drunk.
• He has put away some sandwiches but is still hungry.

If you 'pick at' your food, you only eat a small amount of it, usually because you are not hungry, you are on a diet or because you are ill.

• She only picked at her food, even though it was delicious.
• We were so busy talking that we only picked at our food.

If you 'cut down' or 'cut back' on a particular food or drink, you consume less of it.

• My doctor told me to cut back on the amount of salt in my diet.
• I need to cut down the amount of fried food I eat.

If you 'eat up', you finish all your food.

• I don't like tripe but I ate it all up when it was served to us by our hosts.
• Eat up. It's time to go.

If you 'drink up', you finish all your drink.

• We seem to have drunk up all the orange juice.
• Drink up. It's time to go.

If you 'polish off' some food, you finish it completely and quickly.

• The guests polished off all the food in the first thirty minutes.
• He has just polished off two whole pizzas and still says he is hungry.

If you 'dish up' some food, you put it onto plates or dishes, ready to be served.

• I've heard she is going to dish up something really special.
• Can you collect up the starter plates, while I dish up the main course?

'Serve up' is a another way of saying the same thing as 'dish up'.

• They served up a six course meal for their guests.
• It's no better than the food we serve up in our canteen and twenty times more expensive.

If you 'lay on' some food or drink, you provide it.

• We've laid on a buffet lunch for our visitors.
• They laid on a small drinks party for us.

If you make a meal very quickly and easily, you 'whip it up'. This is informal.

• Have a seat and I'll whip us up something to eat.
• I could whip up a salad, if you are hungry.

If you make food quickly and without much effort, you 'knock it up'.

• I knocked myself up a quick meal from what was left in my fridge.
• Do you want me to knock up some lunch?

If you make food hot so that it can be eaten, you 'heat it up'.

• I've already prepared the food for the party. All we need to do is to heat up the pizzas.
• I could heat up a can of soup if you are hungry.

If you 'warm up ' cold food, you are making it hot again so that it can be eaten.

• I'll warm up that stew from last night.
• The canteen makes a large quantity once a week and then just warms up the amount needed every day.

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Phrasal Verbs with UP 1

I've had a lot of requests for some lessons on 'up' so here is the first of several. We'll cover the easy part today.

One common use for 'up' in phrasal verbs is to indicate

• An upward movement
• An increase
• An improvement

See how that applies to these eight verbs.

If you display something such as a poster, you 'put it up' on a wall or a notice-board.

• Have you seen the warning the boss has put up on the notice-board?
• Can you put up a poster in your window?

If somebody is miserable and you want them to be happier, you can tell them to 'cheer up'.

• You look really unhappy. Cheer up!
• I wrote Pearson a letter to try to cheer him up a bit.

If you are sitting and then you rise from your chair, you 'stand up'.

• When the President arrives, everybody must stand up.
• Stand up straight when I am speaking to you.

If a party or a seminar is dull, you need to 'liven it up'.

• You need to liven up your ideas.
• How can we liven up this presentation?

If you want to make something stronger, you can 'build it up'.

• I have built up a strong team of workers.
• I have been ill and need to build up my strength.

I can't hear very well these days – I'm old. When you speak to me, you need to speaker, to 'speak up'.

• Can you speak up? There is a lot of background noise.
• It is a big room. You will have to speak up so that those in the back can hear.

The place where you lived when you were a child is where you 'grew up'.

• I was born in Scotland but grew up in England.
• Where did you grow up?

If something increases fast, it 'shoots up'.

• The price of petrol has shot up recently.
• My English scores shot up after I started studying with Pearson.

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Phrasal Verbs with UP 2

There is a group of expressions using 'up' where the 'up' is not necessary. For example you can say 'fill' or 'fill up' and it means almost the same thing. So why do we add the 'up'? Well one possible answer is that 'we do it because we do it' – we have just developed the habit of adding 'up'. However, often the 'up' seems to 'intensify' the verb, to make it more 'complete'.

Look at these examples and see what I mean.

If you are late, you need to 'hurry up'.

• Please hurry up. We are terribly late.
• We need to hurry up or we will miss our flight.

You can 'ring up' somebody on the telephone.

• I will ring you up when I get back.
• You can ring me up if you need any help.

If you cut your skin, it needs to 'heal up'.

• This will take a week to heal up.
• I cut myself shaving and it will not heal up.

Before I go on a long journey, I have to 'fill up' my car with petrol ( or if I were in the US 'gas'.)

• I need to fill up my car.
• The concert filled up quickly and not everybody could get in.

When I send a package, I 'wrap it up' well.

• Could you wrap this up for me?
• They didn't wrap it up properly and it got damaged.

If you have something valuable, it is a good idea to 'lock it up'.

• He did not lock up his desk properly and somebody stole his calculator.
• I think they should lock up pedophiles for a very long time.

If you don't have enough money to buy something, you need to 'save up'.

• I am saving up to go on a trip to New York.
• You'll have to save up if you want to buy a car.

When things are in a mess, you need to 'tidy them up'.

• We need to tidy up the office before the visitor comes.
• Tidy up your desk. It's such a mess.

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Phrasal Verbs with UP 3

If you make a mess, you need to 'clear it up'.

• It was your party. You clear up the mess.
• Don't expect me to clear up after you.

If you need some support, you need somebody to 'back you up'.

• If you report it, I'll back you up.
• Nobody would back me up when I complained.

If there is none left, you have 'used it all up'.

• The ketchup bottle is empty. We must have used it all up.
• We must stop for petrol (or gas!) . We've used it all up.

On a special occasion, you put on fine clothes – you dress up.

• Do we need to dress up for the party?
• I like dressing up and going somewhere fancy.

If you fall behind in your studies, you need to 'catch up'.

• He was ill for two months and is struggling to catch up.
• I need to put in some work to catch up on what I missed.

If you go to bed late, you 'stay up'.

• My student daughter stays up until 3 every day.
• I cannot stay up late. I've got to start early tomorrow.

Perhaps my daughter's parents didn't 'bring her up' correctly.

• She was brought up very strictly.
• He's been very well brought up.

When it's time to finish drinking, you tell everybody to 'drink up'.

• Drink up. We have to leave now.
• It's time to go so drink up.

If you like vegetables as I do, you 'eat them all up' and don't leave any on your plate.

• If you eat up all your carrots, you can have some ice cream.
• I ate up all the chocolate that we had.

If you need some information, you should 'look it up' on Google.

• I looked up the name of the capital of Scotland. It is not Glasgow.
• Can you look up his phone number for me, please?

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Phrasal Verbs with UP 4

If someone 'beats you up', they hit and kick you and hurt you a lot.

• The muggers beat him up badly.
• I was beaten up so badly that I was off work for a month.

If you 'bottle up' a feeling or emotion, you suppress them and don't express them.

• If you bottle up your feelings, you will make yourself ill.
• I was angry but I bottled up my feelings during the meeting.

If you 'call someone up', you phone them.

• I tried to call you up earlier but there was no answer.
• Call me up when you get a chance.

If something 'crops up', it happens unexpectedly.

• Something has cropped up. I am going to have to work late.
• If a problem crops up when I am away, give me a call on my cell phone.

If you 'freshen up', you wash and make yourself more presentable.

• I need a minute to freshen up before we meet them.
• When they arrive, they will probably need a few moments to freshen up after the journey.

If your eyes 'light up', they become excited.

• Her eyes lit up when she saw the dress.
• His eyes lit up when he saw her wearing the dress.

If you 'own up', you confess to something.

• Nobody has owned up to starting the fire.
• He owned up to being a big fan of Britney.

If you 'polish something up', you improve it.

• The basic report is fine but you need to polish it up a bit.
• I must polish up my Japanese before we go to Tokyo.

If you 'speed up', you go faster.

• We need to speed up production. It is taking too long.
• Can you speed up a bit? I am going to miss my train.

If you 'tighten up' something, you make it more secure.

• We need to tighten up security in the light of these threats.
• We need to tighten up our quality control system. There have been too many mistakes.

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