Phrasal Verb Dictionary: P

Phrasal verbs are a common English verb form that consist of a verb followed by a p-word that functions as a particle. To learn more about some of the most common phrasal verbs in the English language, click on a letter in the following menu to browse the Phrasal Verb Dictionary in alphabetical order.

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Note: When a word entry includes a p-word enclosed in parentheses, the phrasal verb is a phrasal-prepositional verb.

Phrasal Verb	Definition	Category	Example
pack in	do a lot	separable transitive	I had only an hour but packed so much in.
pack up	collect together	separable transitive	Everyone must pack their belongings up tonight.
pad out	fill out	separable transitive	Do not pad your essay out with superfluous information.
page through	turn the pages of a publication and look at the contents quickly	inseparable transitive	The little girl paged through the magazine.
pair off	form pairs of two	separable transitive	The teacher paired the students off.
pair up	form pairs of two	separable transitive	Grandma paired the socks up.
pal around (with)	spend time with in a friendly manner	intransitive	The new friends palled around after school.
pan out	succeed, turn out well	intransitive	My idea panned out quite well.
parcel out	divide into parts and give	separable transitive	The charity parceled the donations out.
pare down	reduce in size	separable transitive	You need to pare your belongings down.
part with	get rid of	inseparable transitive	I could never part with all my shoes.
partition off	divide (usually a room)	separable transitive	The couch partitions the room off.
partner off	form pairs of two	separable transitive	The children partnered off during class.
partner up	form pairs of two	separable transitive	The instructor partnered the participants up.
pass away	die	intransitive	The neighbors passed away last year.
pass by	go past without stopping or noticing	separable transitive	The opportunity passed me by.
pass down	give as an inheritance	separable transitive	My grandparents passed their farm down.
pass for	appear as something else	inseparable transitive	She passes for a teenager.
pass off	misrepresent	separable transitive	The con artist tried to pass the painting off as an original
pass on	transmit	separable transitive	Please pass the dates on to your mother.
pass on	decline, not accept	inseparable transitive	She passed on the job offer.
pass on	die	intransitive	My uncle passed on last week.
pass out	distribute	separable transitive	The teacher passed the books out.
pass out	faint	intransitive	A woman passed out in the park.
pass over	neglect, disregard, omit, leave out	separable transitive	He passed me over for a job.
pass up	fail to take, keep away from	separable transitive	Her sister passed a great opportunity up.
patch together	create quickly	separable transitive	She patched a dinner together quickly.
patch up	repair	separable transitive	Mom patched the rip in my coat up.
paw at	touch repeatedly	inseparable transitive	Stop pawing at the dessert table.
pay back	repay	separable transitive	He never paid the money back.
pay off	repay a debt	separable transitive	She finally paid her student loans off.
pay off	bribe	separable transitive	The crook paid the police officer off.
pay out	spend a lot of money	separable transitive	I had to pay a lot out to acquire the new property.
pay up	give back something owed	separable transitive	He finally paid up.
peal out	leave quickly (usually in a vehicle)	intransitive	She pealed out of the parking lot.
peel off	remove	separable transitive	She peeled her wet swimsuit off.
peg down	fasten, secure, make certain	separable transitive	Can we peg the details down tonight?
pen in	trap	separable transitive	He penned the dog in.
pencil in	make tentative plans	separable transitive	Let me pencil you in on Friday.
pep up	perk up, make more attractive or energetic	separable transitive	Coffee peps me up.
perk up	pep up, make more energetic or attractive	separable transitive	A nap perks my daughter up.
peter out	lose strength or energy	intransitive	The blizzard petered out last night.
phase out	gradually stop	separable transitive	The company phased the product out.
phone around	make many telephone calls in search of someone or something	intransitive	Let me phone around this evening.
phone in	make a telephone call to someone	separable transitive	Make sure you phone the problem in.
phone up	call on the telephone	separable transitive	Phone your grandma up tomorrow night.
pick at	pluck or pull at, meddle with, mess with	inseparable transitive	She picked at the loose thread on her shirt.
pick on	tease, bully	inseparable transitive	The little boy picked on the little girl.
pick out	choose	separable transitive	Will you pick a new shirt out?
pick over	look over carefully	inseparable transitive	The buyer picked over the collection.
pick through	search through	inseparable transitive	The woman picked through the bargain bin.
pick up	lift	separable transitive	Pick your toys up please.
pick up	increase	intransitive	Sales finally picked up.
pick up	go and get	separable transitive	Can you pick me up after the movie?
pick up	learn without effort	separable transitive	I picked the guitar up quickly.
pick up	try to initiate a relationship with	separable transitive	A creepy dude tried to pick me up last night.
pick up on	notice	inseparable transitive	She finally picked up on the innuendo.
piece together	reconstruct, reassemble	separable transitive	The police pieced together the moments up until the crime took place.
pig out	consume a lot	intransitive	The woman pigged out at the buffet.
pile in	fill with a lot	separable transitive	Pile the boxes in.
pile on	cover with a lot	separable transitive	Pile the toppings on.
pile out (of)	exit quickly	intransitive	The clowns piled out of the car.
pile up	become a pile or stack	separable transitive	The teacher keeps piling our assignments up.
pin down	settle, confirm, nail down	separable transitive	The committee pinned the details down.
pin up	fasten vertically	separable transitive	The designed pinned the picture up.
pipe down	make quiet	intransitive	The children need to pipe down.
piss away	waste	separable transitive	He pissed his inheritance away.
piss off	make angry	separable transitive	The weather pisses me off.
pitch in (to)	contribute to	intransitive	All participants must pitch in.
play down	make less important	separable transitive	He played down the situation.
play around	behave silly or foolishly	intransitive	She always plays around instead of working.
play along (with)	pretend to agree with	intransitive	He played along with the plans.
play back	listen or watch a recording	separable transitive	Can you play the tape back?
play down	minimize, make seem less important	separable transitive	The leader played the election down.
play out	allow to continue	separable transitive	Just let the situation play itself out.
play up	make more important, highlight	separable transitive	She played up her talents.
play up to	flatter for personal advantage	inseparable transitive	My coworker keeps playing up to our boss.
plot out	plan in detail	separable transitive	The bosses plotted the procedure out.
plow on (with)	continue despite difficulties or boringness	intransitive	She plowed on with the boring book.
plow through	consume, damage, destroy, crash through, go through	inseparable transitive	The train plowed through the truck.
plug away at	work hard at for a long time	inseparable transitive	She plugged away at her studies.
plug in	connect a piece of electrical equipment	separable transitive	He plugged the camera in.
plug on (with)	continue	intransitive	He plugged on with writing his essay all night.
plump up	increase, make bigger	separable transitive	The surgeon plumped her cheeks up.
plunge into	enter or begin quickly	inseparable transitive	She plunged into her new job.
point out	indicate	separable transitive	The woman pointed the miscreants out.
point to	indicate, implicate	inseparable transitive	The injuries point to a brutal beating.
poke around	search, investigate	inseparable transitive	Let me poke around the files a bit.
polish off	finish	separable transitive	She polished the pie off.
polish up	practice and improve	separable transitive	He polished his skills up.
pony up	pay, contribute	separable transitive	She ponied the money up.
poop out	exhaust, become tied or worn out	separable transitive	Playing all day pooped the toddlers out.
pop in	arrive for just a short time	intransitive	Grandma popped in this afternoon.
pop off	leave for a short time	intransitive	Grandpa popped off to get a sandwich.
pop out	leave for a short time	intransitive	He popped out for a bite to eat.
pop up	occur unexpectedly	intransitive	Problems keep popping up with the project.
pore over	study carefully and in detail	inseparable transitive	She pored over her notes before the final exam.
pork out (on)	consume a lot	intransitive	The sad woman porked out on ice cream.
portion out	divide	separable transitive	The teacher portioned the snacks out to the students.
power down	stop, turn off	separable transitive	She powered the system down.
power up	start, turn on	separable transitive	He powered the computer up.
press ahead (with)	continue	intransitive	We pressed ahead with our vacation plans.
press for	attempt to persuade	inseparable transitive	I press for a raise for all employees.
press on (with)	continue	intransitive	The children press on with the Easter egg hunt despite the rain.
prey on	hunt, hunt with the intention to deceive	inseparable transitive	The con man preys on old ladies.
print off	print	separable transitive	Can you print the brochure off?
print out	print	separable transitive	She printed the instructions out.
proceed with	continue	inseparable transitive	Shall we proceed with the dance as planned?
psych out	make less confident	separable transitive	The other team psyched us out.
psych up	make more confident or excited	separable transitive	The new movie trailer psyched me up for the film.
puke up	vomit	separable transitive	She puked the rancid meat up.
pull down	earn	separable transitive	He pulls $1 million down a year.
pull in	park (usually a vehicle)	separable transitive	The man pulled the van in too quickly and crashed.
pull out	depart (usually in a vehicle)	separable transitive	She pulled the car out of the garage.
pull through	survive but just barely	intransitive	The premature baby pulled through.
pull together	unite, organize	separable transitive	She pulled the party together.
pull up	drive up to	intransitive	A cop car pulled up next to me at the light.
pump in	give a lot	separable transitive	The organization pumped millions of dollars in.
pump out	produce a lot	separable transitive	The old woman sure pumps a lot of knitted scarves out!
pump up	increase, increase excitement	separable transitive	The gas station pumped prices up because of the storm.
punch in	input quickly	separable transitive	She punched her password in.
punch out	knock unconscious	separable transitive	The boxer punched his opponent out.
punch up	make more interesting	separable transitive	The new introduction punched the story up.
push around	be rude or threatening	separable transitive	Stop pushing me around!
push aside	forget about, neglect	separable transitive	I pushed the horrible thought aside.
push for	attempt to persuade	inseparable transitive	She pushed for a new car from her parents.
push forward	continue	separable transitive	The general pushed the plans forward.
push on (with)	continue	intransitive	The colonel pushed on with the plan.
push out	make leave	separable transitive	Her co-workers pushed her out of the job.
push over	cause to fall	separable transitive	The bully pushed the child over.
push through	make officially accepted	separable transitive	The committee pushed the new policy through.
push towards	attempt to achieve	inseparable transitive	He pushed towards his goal of graduating.
push up	increase	separable transitive	The storm pushed gas prices up.
put across	communicate clearly	separable transitive	You put your ideas across well at the meeting.
put aside	save for later	separable transitive	We put some money aside for a rainy day.
put away	return to a proper place of storage	separable transitive	The children put their toys away.
put back	return	separable transitive	The child put her toys back.
put down	insult	separable transitive	He tried to put me down but failed.
put down	euthanize	separable transitive	She put her sick dog down.
put in	submit	separable transitive	Please put your requests in by noon.
put off	postpone	separable transitive	We put the appointment off again.
put off	disgust, repel	separable transitive	Dirty fingernails put me off.
put on	wear, get dressed	separable transitive	The children put their coats on.
put out	extinguish	separable transitive	The cook put the fire out.
put out	inconvenience	separable transitive	My family put me out last Christmas.
put up	have as a guest	separable transitive	My cousins put me up for a night.
put up with	tolerate	inseparable transitive	I put up with your bad behavior.
putter around	move or act aimlessly	intransitive	She puttered around all weekend.