Phrasal Verb Dictionary: Letter D

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T W Z

Dash off.- (insep) When you dash off, you leave in a hurry.

I must dash off; I'm already late.
He dashed off before I could talk to him.

Dash off [Dash something off].- (letter, note, email) When you dash something off, you write it in a hurry.

Feel free to dash off an email to us at any time.

Dawn on [Dawn on somebody].- When something dawns on you, you suddenly begin to understand something.

It dawned on me that something unusual was going on.
The truth finally dawned on him.

Die away.- (noise, sound, voice, light, breeze) When something dies away, it gradually becomes weaker until it disappears; it fades. Fade away

The strange noise finally died away.
I particularly like it at night, when the traffic dies away.

Die down.- (insep) (applause, gossip, rumours, wind, storm, flames, fire, pain, excitement, scandal) When something dies down, it becomes quieter or less noticeable.

The wind's died down at last.
The rumours will soon die down.
He offered to leave the country for a spell until the fuss had died down.

Die out.- (insep) (custom, tradition, habit, idea, race, species) When something dies out, it gradually disappears.

Many Indian communities are dying out.
The Panda is in danger of dying out.
Sadly this tradition died out in the early 1900s.

Dig over [Dig something over].- (soil, patch, garden, flowerbed) When you dig something over, you break the ground into smaller pieces with a spade or fork so that plants can grow.

He spent the morning digging over the vegetable patch.
When I was digging over the garden I made a strange discovery.

Dig up [Dig something up].- 1 (scandal, the past, idea, excuse, facts, information) When you dig something up, you search for it and find it: Rake up, dredge up

I have no answer for that, and I am not sure I want to dig up the past.

2 When you dig something up, you remove it from the ground using a fork or spade.

If you dig up potatoes and the skin rubs off easily, they need more time to mature.

Do away with [Do away with something].- abolish (law, privilege, rule, regulation, paperwork, tax) When an organizations does away with something, they get rid of it.

The death penalty has been done away with in many countries.
They should do away with all that paperwork.

Do in [Do somebody in, do something in].- (head) When something does you in, it makes you tired or it makes you feel unable to deal with a situation.

I think it was the late hours more than the alcohol that really did me in.
Please help, this is doing my head in.

Do up [Do something up].- 1 (flat, building, cottage, room) When you do something up, you repair and decorate it.

I spent a month doing up the flat and I think it's quite nice now.

2 (button, coat, dress, trousers, zip) When you do something up, you fasten it.

Her hair was done up in a neat bun at the back of her head.

Doss down .- (insep) When you doss down somewhere, you sleep there temporarily or you sleep there instead of going home. Kip down

If you can find another blanket I'll just doss down on the sofa.

Doze off.- (insep) When you doze off, you fall into a light sleep. Drop off

Judy dozed off while she was watching television.

Drag on.- (insep) When something drags on, it's very slow and lasts longer than necessary.

Legal battles are agonizingly slow and costly, and the appeals process can drag on for years.

Drag up [Drag something up].- (story, incident) When you drag something up, you mention some unpleasant fact from the past. Bring up

This is all in the past. Why are you bringing it all up now?

Draw up.- (insep) When a vehicle draws up, it gets closer to a place and stops. Pull up

A convoy of buses drew up at the airport and they all climbed on board.

Draw up [Draw something up].- (list, plan, document, proposal, contract, will) When you draw something up, you prepare it very carefully in writing.

The Metropolitan Police force is drawing up plans to recruit more ethnic minority officers from overseas.

Dream up [Dream something up].- (explanation, idea, plot, ploy, scheme) When you dream something up, you think of something unusual or foolish.

Look at the picture and dream up a sensational story to go with it.

Dredge up [Dredge something up].- (scandal, the past, memory, old grivances, quarrel, filth, mistake, misdeeds, story) When you dredge something up, you remind somebody of unpleasant events in the past. Dig up, rake up

It's not good to dredge up the past.

Dress down.- (insep) When you dress down, the clothes you wear are not as formal as the ones you usually wear. Dress up

Some companies allow their employees to dress down on Fridays.
Dressing down allows staff to be comfortable and be themselves.

Dress up.- (insep) When you dress up, you put on better clothes for a special occasion. Dress down

He didn't dress up for the occasion at all, wearing an orange baseball cap, baggy khakis, and an oversized black sweater.
They dressed the child up in her best clothes and took her to the celebration.

Drop in (on somebody).- When you drop in on somebody, you pay a short visit without warning. Call in, pop in

I thought I'd dropped in and say hello.
Drop in to see us next time you're in town.

Drop off.- 1 (insep) When you drop off, you fall asleep. Doze off

The girl was so tired that she dropped off to sleep at once.
Ashley finally dropped off to sleep after midnight.

2 (attendance, numbers, membership, interest, support, traffic, temperatures) When something drops off, it becomes less or fewer. Fall off

Unfortunately, attendance has dropped off over the last few months.
Temperatures will drop off quickly as northwest winds strengthen.

Drop off [Drop somebody off].- When you drop somebody off, you stop the vehicle you are driving to leave a passenger. Let off

Come on. I'll drop you off at your flat.
They had a disagreement as he brought her home, he dropped her off and went to work.

Drum up [Drum something up].- (support, enthusiasm, interest, business, trade) When you drum something up, you try to make people interested in it.

US Defence Secretary Dick Cheney is about to go on a tour of Europe and the Middle East to drum up support for the military action.
They held a press conference last week to try to drum up support for their proposal.

Dumb down [Dumb something down].- (language, news, test) When you dumb something down, you make it easier so that everybody can understand it.

They want to dumb down the test.
We hope that less information will make the paper more digestible—at the risk of dumbing down the news.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T W Z

For other verbs and to get more examples search the corpus