Business Phrasal Verbs (English)

Branch out

Expand or extend one’s interests

Break into

Enter with
effort or force

Carry on

Continue

Close down

Stop
operating

Look forward to

Feel pleased
and excited about something that is going to happen

Note down

Write something down

Step down

Resign or
leave a position/job

Take off

Become
successful or popular very fast

Take up

Fill a
particular amount of space or time

Weigh up (UK)

Consider
carefully the advantages or disadvantages of a situation

Back up

Make a copy
of information

Carry out

Do and
complete a task

Come up

Happen or arise

Get on (UK)

Continue or
start doing something

Keep up with

Follow

Set up

Start a business

Go through

Experience something bad

Find out

Discover a
fact or piece of information

Call off

Cancel something

Call back

To return a
call or telephone someone again.

Deal with

Handle a problem

Drop in

Make a short
visit without making an arrangement in advance

Fill out

Complete a form

Hold on

Wait

Join in

Participate

Lay off

Fire staff

Put back

Delay or postpone

Run out of

Have no more
of something

Sort out

Organise or fix

Take on

Employ staff

Take over

To begin to
have control of or responsibility for something

Bail out

To rescue
somebody from a difficult situation, especially financial problems

Cut back

To reduce something

Go under

To become bankrupt

Fall through

If an
agreement, plan, sale etc. falls through, it is not completed successfully

Pull out

To move away
from something or stop being involved in it

Bottom out

To stop getting worse

Level off

To stop
rising or falling and become steady

Burn out

Be extremely
tired

Call off

Cancel

Carry out

Do a
particular piece of work, research etc

Draw up

Prepare
something in writing, especially an official document

Fill in for

To do
somebody’s job for a short time while they are not there

Hand in

Give
something to a person in authority

Knock off

Stop working

Knuckle down

Start
working harder

Lay off

Stop
employing someone because there is not enough work for them to do

Run by

Tell someone
about an idea or plan so that they can give you their opinion

Slack off

Do something
with less energy and effort than is usual or necessary

Take on

Employ
someone

Take over

Take control
of something

Work out

To develop
in a successful way

Pay off

Finish
paying money owed for something

Fork out

Spend a lot
of money on something, especially unwillingly

Run up

Create lots
of debt

Rip off

Charge too
much

Save up

Not spend
money

Put aside

Save an
amount of money Each month

Squirrel
away

Put
something away in a secret place, especially money

Pay back

Give someone
the same amount of money that you borrowed from them

Splash out

Buy
something expensive

Put down

Pay part of
the cost of something

Come into

To be left
money by somebody who has died