quiet * down + be quiet, or cause to be quiet The neighbors told us to quiet down last night or they would call the police.

veer away from + stay away from, avoid I veer away from the same old summer blockbuster films.

make * out decipher I can’t make out your handwriting. What does this say? make * out + write a check or other document Who should I make this check out to? make out succeed He really made out in the stock market last year. make out progress How is your son making out in [...]

wait on + serve, service (a table) Each waitress waits on three different tables in the restaurant. wait up not sleep because you are waiting for something or someone Don’t wait up. wait up for + not sleep because you are waiting for someone or something Let’s wait up for Mary to see how her [...]

take after + resemble a parent or relative I take after my father. Who do you take after? take * away + remove, seize or capture The soldiers took the captives away. take * back + retract something you said I demand that you take back what you said. take * back + return an [...]

use * up use all of something I used up all of the soap, so we need to buy some more.

jack up + to raise We need to jack up the car before we change the tire. joke around to be humorous Mike is always joking around at work. jump in enter a conversation Feel free to jump in at any moment while we are talking. jump to + make a quick, poorly thought out [...]

occur to + pop into one’s mind, come to one’s mind It didn’t occur to us that we had left the iron on. open up share feelings I’m  glad that John feels comfortable enough around me to open up. out to + verb try to She is out to get revenge now that her husband [...]

act up behave or function improperly I think I need to take my car to the mechanic because it’s acting up again. add * up + calculate a sum I added up the receipts and it totaled $135.46. add up to + equal an amount The total expenses added up to $325.00. add up make [...]

iron * out eliminate We need to have a meeting this week in order to iron out the distribution problems.