Home > Phrasal Verb Dictionary: Letter G

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Get about, get around, get round.- 1 (insep) When you get round, you go to different places; you travel.

• He gets around a lot.
• She's getting old; she doesn't get around as much as she used to.
• The Underground is the best way to get around in London.

2 (insep) (news, rumours, gossip, word) When something gets round, it becomes well known; it spreads.

• The word got around that she was having an affair.
• The rumour got around that he was a drug dealer.
• Gossip soon gets around in a small neighbourhood.

3 (insep) (law, rule, problem) When you get around something, you avoid or escape the effects of something, such as a rule, without breaking it.

• It's very difficult to get arond the the tax laws.
• They managed to get around the problem in the end.

Get away.-(insep) When you get away, you leave or escape or have a holiday.

• They got away in a stolen car.
• It's nice to get away at Easter.
• The boy tried to catch to the butterfly but it got away.

Get away with [Get away with something].- (insep) When you get away with something, you are not punished for something wrong you have done.

• She won't get away with an offensive remark like that.
• You won't get away with this.
• How did you manage to get away with cheating on your wife?
• She got away with a fine.

Get back.- (insep) When you get back, you return. Come back

• They didn't get back home until 3 o'clock in the morning.
• I'll tell her when she gets back.

Get back [Get something back].- When you get something back, you recover it. Take back

• You shouldn't lend books; you never get them back.
• He's started to exercise. He needs to get his strength back.

Get by.- 1 (insep) When you get by, you manage to do something.

• When you're a student you have to learn to get by with very little money.
• My English is just good enough to get by.
• He doesn't do very well in his exams; he just gets by.

2 (insep) When you get by, you go past.

• They moved aside to let the ambulance get by.
• There were so many people that I couldn't get by. 

Get in [Get in, get in something].- (insep) When you get in or get in a place, you go in there.

• Get into the car. We're leaving.
• It wasn't until I got into the shop that I realised I hadn't got enough money on me.

Get into [Get into something].- (insep) (mess, trouble, debt, muddle) When you get into something, you become involved in a difficult situation, often without intending to.

• Don't use your credit card too much or you'll get into debt.
• He got into trouble with the police because he forgot to pay for his shopping before he left the shop.

Get off [Get off something].- (insep) (bus, NOT car, train, plane, horse) When you get off a vehicle, you leave it. Jump off Get on

• Just as we got off the bus, it started to rain.
• Please do not get off the ride until it has come to a complete stop.

Get on.- (insep) When you get on or you are getting on, you are old.

• I'm getting on a bit now, but I've still got all me faculties.

Get on, get on with [Get on, get on with something].- 1 (work) (insep) When you get on or get on with something, you make progress in it.

• How are you getting on with your studies?
• After a few problems at first, he's getting on well at his new school.
• He wasn't an easy man to get on with.

2 When you get on with something, you continue doing it. Get along, go on

• The best thing to do is get on with your job to the best of your ability, if you work hard and are efficient it gets noticed, often by the people who matter.

Get on [Get on something].- (insep) (bus, train, plane, horse) When you get on a vehicle, you take a place in or on it. Get off

• The bus was full. We couldn't get on.
• As usual I got on the train and travelled all the way to Kings Cross.

Get on with [Get on with somebody].- (insep) (neighbours, relatives, friends) When two people get on or you get on with them, you have a friendly relationship with them. Get along Fall out

• Do you get on with your neighbours?
• How do you get on with your boss?

Get out.- 1 When you get out, you leave a place or go outside.

• A security guard told him to get out.
• We had to get out of there as quickly as we could.

2 When something gets out, it stops being a secret.

• If word gets out, it could ruin her career.
• When word got out that a huge diamond field had been found, speculation fever mounted.

Get through.- (insep) When you you get through or you get through to somebody, you manage to contact them. Be through, come through, put through

• I couldn't get through to them on the phone. I spent over two hours trying so I emailed them the next day.

Get through [Get through, get through something].- (insep) (exam, test, finals) When you get through or get through something, such as a test, you manage to pass it. Scrape through, sail through

• We're sure that you will get through your exam.

2.- (insep) (cigarettes, beer, money) When you get through something, you use it or spend it.

• While we watched the match we got through two large bottles of coke, two hamburgers each and packet of crisps.
• He gets through about thirty cigarettes a day.
• The average Brit gets through three cups of tea each day, which is 40 per cent of everything he drinks.

Get through to [Get throgh to somebody].- (insep) When you get through to somebody, you manage to make them understand something.

• I had never worked with this age group before and I didn't know how I would handle them or if I would be able to get through to them.

Give away [Give something away].- When you give something away, you give it to somebody for free.

• He gave away all his money.
• I had a lot of books I didn't want to keep so I gave them away to a friend.

Give in.- (insep) [+ to] When you give in, you admit that you are defeated or cannot do something; you yield.

• He's very stubborn. He won't give in no matter how much you try to persuade him.
• President Mobutu Sese Seko finally gave in to mounting pro-democracy pressure by announcing the end of the one party state in Zaire.
• The government gave in to pressure from the industry.

Give out [Give something out].- (leaflet, food, money, information) When you give something out, you distribute it. Hand out

• Give out the questionnaires and ask students to complete them.
• If your staff spends valuable time giving out directions, business hours and other information, post that data on the web, and refer your customers to it.

Give up [Give something up].- (chocolate, fatty foods, smoking, hope, job) When you give something up, you stop doing or having it; you stop attempting to do it.

• My doctor tried to persuade me to give smoking up.
• He gave up his job three years ago and started traveling around the world.
• If you want to lose weight you'll have to give up eating sweets.

Glam up [Glam up, glam yourself up].- When you glam up or glam yourself up, you dress attractively.

• Casual dress is fine, although some of the locals do get glammed up.

Gloss over [Gloss over something].- (insep) (failure, issue) When you gloss over something, you try to excuse or not to mention something bad.

• He glossed over painful events and painted a positive picture.

Go about [Go about something].- (insep) (daily routine, business, work) When you go about something, you do it in the usual way or you start doing it.

• How did you go about getting this book published?

Go off.- 1 (insep) (alarm, bomb, device, gun) When something goes off, it explodes or is activated.

• The powerful device went off just metres from the market entrance.
• Why did the alarm go off like that?

2 When something goes off, it's not good anymore.

• Put the milk in the fridge or it will go off.
• This meat smells absolutely revolting. It must have gone off.

Go off [Go off somebody, go off something].- (insep) When you go off somebody or something, you stop liking them. Take to

• After that traumatic episode we kept a close watch on Belle but noticed that she had started to go off her food.
• I liked him at the start, but then went off him rapidly.

Go on.- 1 (insep) When you go on doing something, you continue doing doing it. Carry on

• He went on speaking for two hours.
• The ovation went on for two minutes.

2 (insep) When something goes on, it takes places.

• You should have let me know what was going on.
• They had the feeling that there was something fishy going on.

Go on about [Go on about something].- When you go on about something, you talk continuously about it in a boring and annoying way.

• I'm sorry. You must be bored senseless hearing me going on about it.
• Do you have to keep going on about it?

Goof off.- (insep, AmE) When you goof off, you spend time doing nothing, esp. avoiding work. Skive off

• A new way to goof off at work: when the boss isn't looking, employees flock to Internet game sites.
• If employees are badly managed or badly motivated, they'll goof off.

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