1000 Phrasal Verbs In Context

1000 Phrasal Verbs In Context © Matt Errey 2007

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1000 Phrasal Verbs in Context N n (1/1)

nag at
After my mother left her house, the fear that she’d left the stove on
nagged at her until she called and asked me to go over and check.

nag at sb

The feeling that she’d left
it too late to have children
kept nagging at her.

✍ ^

nail down
Reporters tried to nail the prime minister down on the timing of the
next election, but he kept on saying it hadn’t been decided yet.

nail sth/sb down

nail down sth/sb

We need to nail down a
date for the meeting as
soon as possible.

✍  see also:^ pin down^

name after
We named our daughter after my grandmother, so now there are two
Katherines in our family.

name sb/sth after

sb/sth

The new species of beetle
was named after the
person who discovered it.

✍ 

narrow

down

Twenty people applied for the job, but after the first round of interviews

we narrowed it down to three.

narrow sth down

narrow down sth

We narrowed down the

range of products from 10

different styles to just 5.

✍  see also: cut down

nod off
The movie was so boring that he nodded off and his friends had to
wake him up when it was over.

nod off

I didn’t sleep much last
night, so I began to nod
off in today’s meeting.

✍  see also:^ doze off^

nose
around

One of the things celebrities hate is reporters and photographers nosing

around their neighbourhood trying to get sensational stories or photos.

nose around

nose around sth

Tax inspectors are nosing
around our accounts,
looking for any mistakes.

✍ ^

notch up
(informal)

The team notched up another win this week, so they’ve now won ten

games in a row.

notch up sth

notch sth up

They’ve notched up a
record number of sales
this month.

✍ ^

note down
Can I borrow your pen, please? I just need to note down this address in
case I forget it.

note down sth

note sth down

I always note down a
customer’s name before I
forget it.

✍  see also:^ jot down^

number
among

Some historians number him among the best presidents the country has

ever had, while he’s numbered among the worst by others.

number among sth
number sb/sth among
sth
I used to number Tony
among my friends, but I
don’t any more.

✍ ^