2) To leave a hotel, airport, etc. Ex. "My wife checked out of the hospital yesterday."

Cheer up:To become cheerful; To cheer someone up - To make someone feel better. ex. "A good song will always cheer me up when I'm feeling down."

Chicken out:To initially want to do something, but then to not do it (to back out) due to fear. ex. "He was going to say something to the teacher, but he chickened out."

Chill out:To telax.

Chip in:To contribute. ex. "We all have to chip in to buy Robert a present."

Clean out:To completely remove everything (from somewhere). ex. "I cleaned out my locker before I left for the summer."

Clean up:To clean; To tidy up.

Clear up:To become sunny. (weather) ex. "Wow, the weather really cleared up!" To make something clear, understandable. ex. "I didn't understand at first, but he cleared everything up for me."

Close down:To close a place permanently. ex. "I was sad to find out that they're going to close down my favorite restaurant."

Close in:To approach, come close (physically). ex. "The rebels were closing in on the city."

Come about:To happen.

Come across:To find (by chance, etc.) ex. "I came across some of my old photos when I was cleaning my room."

Come along:1) To accompany someone. ex. "I'm going to the mall - You can come along if you like."

2) To progress. Ex. "How's your project coming along."

Come apart:To fall apart. To break.

Come back:To return. ex. "What time are you coming back tonight?"

Come by:To come over. To drop by. To pay a visit. To visit. ex. "He came by last night.", "What time should I come by?"

Come down on:To criticize. ex. "The president really came down on opposition party members for failing to pass the bill."

Come down with:To catch (an illness). ex. "She came down with the flu."

Come forth:To appear.

Come off as:To give the impression of being. ex. "He comes off as being quite successful."

Come out:1) To release (a book, CD, etc.) ex. "The Killers are coming out with a new CD."

2) To reveal to others that one is gay or lesbian. Ex. "He came out to his parents last summer."

Come to:To regain consciousness.

Come up:To be raised (as a topic/issue during a conversation). ex. "That issue never came up during out conversation."

Come up against:To encounter (a problem, an opponent, etc.)

Come up with:To produce or create (an idea, a plan). ex. "The writer came up with a great plot for his new book."

Count on:To rely or depend on. ex. "I'm your best friend and you can always count on me."

Cross out:To put lines through something written, drawn, etc. ex. "Cross out your name."

Cut back on:To not spend as much money on. ex. "We'll have to back on certain things this month."

Cut down on:To reduce. ex. "My brother is trying to cut down on smoking."

Cut (someone) off:When driving: to drive into someone's lane, blocking their way; When speaking: To interrupt, stop someone when s/he is speaking. ex. "I can't believe how that driver cut me off!"

Dash off:To go or leave somewhere quickly. Also "to run off". ex. "She dashed off to the store before I had a chance to speak to her."

Dawn on (somebody):To come to the realization; to realize. ex. "It never dawned on me that she might be unhappy = I never realized that she might be unhappy"

Decide against (doing something):To decide not to (do something). ex. "He decided against joining the military." IMPORTANT: In English, although it's correct to say "He decided *against* joining the military, you can't say "He decided *for* joining the military" - You have to say "He decided to join the military."

Die down:To diminish in intensity. ex. "After the controversy died down, he was able to lead a normal life again."

Die for (something):To really want (something). ex. "I'd die for some enchiladas right now."

Dig in:To start eating. ex. "Dig in, boys. The food is getting cold!"

Dish out:To dispense, give out. Often used in the phrase "to dish out criticism."

Dig up:To discover something that is supposed to be secret. ex. "The reporter dug up some information that might jeopardize the senator's campaign."

Dive in:To start doing something enthusiastically, often without planning ahead. ex. "Don't think about it, just dive in."

Do away with:To abolish. ex. "Most people in this country would like to do away with the death penalty."

Do over:To do again. ex. "I'm sorry but that's not good enough - You'll have to do it over."

Do up:When talking about clothes - to fasten, to button, etc. ex. "Could you help me do up the buttons at the back of my dress?"

Do without:To manage without something. ex. "We're going to have to do without a car for a while."

Doze off:To fall asleep. ex. "He dozed off for a couple of hours."

Dress up:To wear elegant clothes. ex. "I love dressing up to go to the theater."

Drag on:To last much longer than expected. ex. "I thought that film would be short, but it really dragged on."

Draw out:To make something last longer than necessary. Often used in the passive form: to be "drawn out". ex. "His speech was really drawn out."

Draw up:To organize. To create. ex. "The residents of the building drew up a plan to catch the thief."

Dream up:To invent. To make up.

Drift off:To . ex. "The police drove out the crowd from the stadium."

Drive (someone) out:To make (someone) leave and/or stay away. ex. "The police drove out the crowd from the stadium."

Drive up:To raise. To cause to increase (prices, rates, etc.). ex. "The new policies drove up prices."

Drop by:To visit someone unexpectedly. ex. "My parents dropped by last Saturday."

Drop in (on):To visit someone unexpectedly. ex. "My parents dropped in on me last Saturday."

Drop off:To deliver someone or something. ex. "I'll drop you off at around 7 PM."

Drop out of:Quit/ stop going to (school, etc.) ex. "She dropped out of school last year, but now she wants to go back."

Dwell on (something):To spend a lot of time thinking about something. Often has a slightly negative connotation. ex. "Stop dwelling on the past!"

Ease off/Ease up (on):To reduce pressure. To become less intense. ex. "The senator eased off on his attacks."

Eat in:To eat at home. ex. "I don't feel like going out tonight - let's eat in."

Eat out:To eat at restaurants, outside the home. ex. "David loves going to new restaurants - he eats out almost every night."

Edge out:To defeat, barely. ex. "David edged out the other runners and won the race."

Egg (someone) on:To urge/ push someone to do something. ex. "The boy always eggs his friends on to do stupid things."

Embark upon:To start, commence. ex. "As soon as he finished his contract, he embarked upon a new project."

End up:To finish up; To finally be/do something. ex. "We wanted to go to the mountains, but we ended up going to the beach instead."

Enter into:To accept, become legaly committed to (an agreement, contract, etc.) ex. "The two parties entered into an agreement last week."

Explain away:To explain/ make excuses for something so that it seems less important. ex. "The CEO tried to explain away the company's recent poor performance."

Face off:To go head to head. To engage in a game, competition, etc. ex. "The two teams will face off again next week."

Face up to:To accept responsibility for. ex. "In order to be a responsible person, you have to face up to what you did."

Fall back on:To have as a backup; To have in case of an emergency. ex. "I always have my translating skills to fall back on if my acting career doesn't pan out."

Fall behind:To fail to keep up pace (with someone/something). ex. "The other runners fell behind."

Fall for:1) To believe something that isn't true. ex. "I can't believe you fell for that story! It's obviously a lie!" 2) To fall in love with. ex. "He fell for her."

Fall off:To decrease. ex. "Prices have fallen off in the past couple of months."

Fall out:To argue, fight to the ex. "They fell out over the administration's handling of the war."

Fall through:To not happen. ex. "Our plan to go to Europe last year fell through because we didn't have enough money."

Feel out:To try to determine. ex. "Jim's a very moody person. You should feel out his mood before you ask him for any favors."

Feel (someone) up:To touch someone in a passionate, sexual way.

Feel up to:To feel good/comfortable/strong enough to. ex. "Do you feel up to going out tonight?"

Fend off (an attack, etc.):To successfully resist, fight back. Fight off.

Figure out:To solve or understand something. ex. "I can't figure out why she would lie to me like that."

Fill in:To complete (in writing, etc.) ex. "Don't forget to fill in all the blanks on the application."

Fill in for:To substitute for. ex. "I was unable to go to the meeting yesterday, but Tom filled in for me."

Fill out:1) To complete (an application, form, etc.) ex. "Fill out this application and bring it back to me." 2) To gain weight, body mass. etc. ex. "Mike has really filled out over the past couple of years."

Find out:To discover. ex. "He found out that his wife had been cheating on him."

Find your way around:To have good knowledge of the layout/geography of a place/thing. ex. "I can find my way around Houston very easily.", "This sitemap will help you find your way around our website."

Fire away:Mostly used as a command. "Fire away." = "Ask me what you want to ask me."

Fire off:To send very quickly, as in an email, a letter, etc.

Fit in:To belong or conform to some group, etc. ex. "I'm a rebel. I don't fit in."

Fizzle out:To fade and then end weakly. Peter out. ex. "The party just kind of fizzled out."

Flick through (the channels):To channel surf - to go from one TV chanel to the next, seeing what's on TV. Also used as a synonym for "to flip through."

Flip through:To look, glance through very quickly. ex. "He flipped through the newspaper."

Follow up on (something):To go back to something that was talked about earlier, usually in order to check progress, discuss details, etc. ex. "I'm calling to follow up on our conversation this morning."

Fool around:1) To play, joke around. ex. "The kids were fooling around outside."