C

 

Call (10)

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 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

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

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

Catch (6)

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 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
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 (4)

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

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

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

Clean (2)

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

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

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

Cock (1)

Cock up
- Ruin or spoil something

Colour (1)

Colour (Color) up
- Blush

Come (32)

Come about
- Happen, occur
Come across
- Find by accident
- Agree to have sex with someone
- The way other people see you
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 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 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 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 (1)

Cool down
- Get cooler
- Become calm

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

Cotton (1)

Cotton on
- To work out the truth

Could (1)

Could do with
- Need or want something

Count (4)

Count in
- Include or involve
Count on
- Depend, rely
Count out
- Exclude
Count up
- Add

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

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 (2)

Cross off
- Delete, remove from a list
Cross out
- Put as line through some writing to show it is wrong

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

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

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