Top 11 Weird Phrasal Verbs for Daily English Conversation

Hi, I’m Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.  

Are you ready to learn something 
weird? Let’s talk about it. 

Do you love phrasal verbs? A phrasal verb is a 
two-part verb, like try out or give up. And a  

lot of English learners feel a little bit stressed 
about phrasal verbs. Today, I would like to help  

relieve some of the stress by having some fun 
and slightly weird phrasal verbs that we use  

in daily conversation in English, and that you 
can use too, and hopefully have a little laugh. 

I chose these phrasal verbs because I felt like 
they’re a little bit unusual, and the base verb,  

like to give up or try out, give or try, is a 
little bit different than what you would normally  

guess it should mean. So make sure that you 
pay attention to these weird phrasal verbs,  

because at the end of this lesson, there’s a test.
Let’s get started with the first one. To squirrel  

away. I’m not going to tell you immediately what 
this means. Instead, I’m going to tell you a  

sample sentence and I’d like you to guess what 
you think it means. Well, I bought some Christmas  

presents in October and I squirreled them away 
until December. Hmm. Do you know what a squirrel  

is? It’s this animal, and a squirrel is known for 
hiding its food until the winter. So during the  

warm months, during the summer, it finds acorns 
and walnuts and any kind of nut, and it buries  

it in the ground. It hides it for the winter time.
So, we can take this same concept and imagine what  

this phrasal verb means. You are hiding something 
until you need to use it. You could say, “He  

squirrels away his money in a hole in the ground.” 
This is kind of more literally like a squirrel,  

right? But it’s that same concept, that 
you are hiding it until you need it. 

Weird phrasal verb number two is to scarf 
down. Hmm, a scarf is usually something that  

you wear on your neck to keep you warm in 
the winter, but what if I said this to you,  

“I was so hungry that I just scarfed down 
my food.” Hmm? Are you eating a scarf?  

Are you cooking a scarf? No. Instead, this 
means that you’re eating something quickly.  

You are scarfing it down. This is similar to 
another phrasal verb, to gobble up your food.  

So, you could say, “I woke up so late 
that I had to scarf down my breakfast  

while I brushed my hair,” or, “I woke up so late 
that I had to gobble up my breakfast while I was  

brushing my hair.” This idea of eating quickly 
because you’re so hungry or out of necessity. 

Our next weird phrasal verb is to beef up. Hmm? 
Beef is a type of meat from a cow. What if I  

said this, “I wanted to beef up my waffles, 
so I added some dark chocolate and berries.”  

Beef on waffles sounds awful, but the good news 
is that this phrasal verb has nothing to do with  

meat. Instead, it means that you’re increasing or 
you’re improving something. I wanted to improve my  

waffles, so I added some dark chocolate and 
berries and mixed it up, and then I made my  

waffles. This is definitely improving my waffles. 
Or we could say, “The security was beefed up  

during the presidential speech.” So whenever 
there is an important public figure who is  

giving a speech and there’s common people around, 
well, there’s probably more security than normal,  

so we could say, “The security was beefed up 
during the presidential speech.” So it was  

increased during the presidential speech.
Our next weird phrasal verb is to butt in.  

Do you know what a butt is? It’s your backside. 
We can imagine here, butt in. Hmm. Look at this  

sentence. The annoying guy at the party kept 
butting in and talking about himself. So annoying.  

He kept butting in. Is he pushing people with 
his butt? I hope not. This is the literal sense,  

but figuratively, we can imagine that 
he is interrupting with his words. 

Sometimes this is okay or necessary, but if you do 
it too much, it can be really annoying. We can use  

this as an informal way to apologize or interrupt 
someone in a more polite way. If you say,  

“Sorry for butting in, but can you tell me where 
the bathroom is?” So if you’re at someone’s house  

and some people are talking and you’re not part 
of that conversation, well, if you need to ask  

them a question, you’re going to need to interrupt 
them. So how can you interrupt them in a polite,  

but kind of casual way? You could say this phrase. 
You could say, “Sorry to butt in, but where’s your  

restroom? Where’s your bathroom?” Sorry to butt 
in. Sorry to interrupt, and that’s very polite.  

Just don’t butt in too much or you’ll be like 
that first annoying guy who butted in too much. 

The next weird phrasal verb is to chicken out. 
Are you taking a chicken and throwing it out of  

the house? No. Instead, look at this sentence. 
I wanted to go skydiving, but I chickened out  

at the last second. Hmm. This means that I was 
at the skydiving place, I was all hooked up,  

and then I saw the airplane and 
I looked up in the sky and said,  

“No way. I can’t do it. I chickened out.” Hmm. 
That means that I was too scared to do something. 

Usually this phrase is used in a negative 
way when we’re talking about someone else.  

If you said this sentence, maybe your sister 
would feel a little bit embarrassed. “My sister  

said that she would sing at karaoke, but when it 
came to be her turn, she chickened out.” Hmm. This  

kind of implies that you think her fear is 
irrational. It’s kind of like a stupid fear.  

“Why did you chicken out? I wouldn’t chicken out 
if I sang karaoke. Why did you?” So if you say  

this about someone else, make sure that you say 
it lightly with a light heart. But of course, you  

could say it about yourself, “Yeah, I chickened 
out before I went skydiving,” and it’s much  

softer because you’re just talking about yourself.
Our next weird phrasal verb is to clam up.  

Do you know what a clam is? It’s this thing. It’s 
got two sides of a shell, and what happens if it  

clams up? Take a look at this sentence. The robber 
clammed up when the detective asked him where he  

hid the money. So someone, the robber, has stolen 
money and the detective is trying to figure out  

where it is. Well, do you think that the robber 
is telling him where he hid the money or is he  

clamming up? He is keeping the information 
inside him. He is hiding that information. 

So we’re using the phrasal verb clam up to mean 
that your mouth is closed. You are not telling  

some information. Or in a more lighthearted way, 
we could say, “My sister clammed up when I asked  

her where my favorite dress was.” Hmm. Maybe 
I suspect that she took my favorite dress and  

either it got ripped, something happened to it, it 
got a big stain and she’s embarrassed to tell me  

about it, or she’s scared to tell me about it. So 
when I ask her, “Hey, what happened to my favorite  

dress? It’s not in my closet,” maybe my sister 
closes her mouth and says nothing. She clams up. 

The next weird phrasal verb is to flip out. You 
might say, “My mom is going to flip out when she  

realizes what happened to her dishes.” Maybe we 
threw a ball in the house and all of her dishes  

crashed and broke. Oh no. Do you think my mom is 
going to say, “Oh, that’s okay. We’ll just buy  

some new dishes.” No, she’s going to flip out. 
That means that she is going to get very angry. 

Now, we can use this in a positive sense to say 
really excited and it all depends on the context.  

Let’s take a look at another sentence. I 
flipped out when I realized that my team won the  

championship. Am I really angry that my team won? 
No, of course, I’m really excited. So here, we’re  

talking about that loss of control of your 
emotions. You’re not in control of your emotions  

anymore. You’re either really angry, “Oh, you 
broke my dishes. My mom is going to freak out,” or  

flip out. We use both of these interchangeably, 
or I’m losing control of my emotions in a  

positive way. “I flipped out when my team won.”
We can, like I said, exchange the phrasal verb,  

freak out. This is a little bit stronger. “I 
freaked out,” and it’s maybe a little bit more  

crass. This means a little bit more rude than 
flip out. I would say that, first, flip out is  

more normal in daily conversation and freak out is 
a little bit more rude. Not really rude, but just  

a little bit more, but they both have a similar 
meaning. You’re losing control of your emotions. 

Our next weird phrasal verb is to gross out. 
Make sure that you pronounce this word correctly,  

gross, gross. You could say, “I was grossed 
out when my cat threw up on my shoe.”  

This is disgusting. It’s not a good 
situation. I was grossed out. I went,  

“Oh, that’s not good.” I was grossed out. Or if 
you have a younger or older brother, you might  

say, “My brother is always trying to find new 
ways to gross me out. He thinks it’s so funny,  

but I don’t.” He’s trying to make me feel 
disgusted, maybe showing me different worms  

that he finds or different strange things that 
he’s doing. He thinks it’s entertaining, but I  

don’t think it is. He’s trying to gross me out.
Our next weird phrasal verb is to lighten up,  

to lighten up. Notice the pronunciation of this 
word, lighten, lighten. A lot of English learners  

ask me about T-E-N at the end of words. This 
might be a word like threaten, button, lighten.  

I have a whole English lesson about these really 
difficult T words in English. You can check out  

that lesson up here. I think it’s called, 
106 Difficult English Words to Pronounce,  

and it includes these words. So we’re 
going to kind of swallow the last sound,  

lighten, lighten, to lighten up. Hmm.
Take a look at this sentence. The  

conversation was getting too serious, so I 
tried to lighten it up with a joke. Hmm. Here  

we have a conversation that’s very serious and 
I want the conversation to become less serious.  

Well, the opposite of serious is light. So we’re 
going to use this phrasal verb. I tried to lighten  

the conversation up, lighten it up with a joke.
We can also use this phrasal verb to provide some  

kind of encouragement to someone else, especially 
for situations where they’re feeling a little bit  

sad, but it’s not too serious. So you could 
say, “Hey, lighten up. Things could be worse.”  

So let’s imagine that your cat threw 
up on your shoe. Pretty gross, right?  

Well, maybe your friend says, “Hey, 
lighten up. Things could be worse.  

Your shoe could be in the middle of a cow pasture 
and a cow could have pooped on your shoe.” Oh,  

that’s worse. Oh, that’s awful. So your friend 
is trying to give some encouragement for this  

light, not too serious situation.
I definitely do not recommend using this  

in a serious situation. So let’s imagine that your 
friend’s dog dies and your friend is really sad.  

They’re having a really difficult time with this, 
understandably. Dogs can be like family members,  

right? Well, if you’re trying to comfort 
your friend, you should not say, “Hey,  

lighten up. Maybe you can find another 
dog,” or, “Oh, lighten up. Let’s go  

kick around a soccer ball.” This is too serious 
of a situation, so I recommend only using it to  

comfort someone in a very non-serious, sad moment, 
like a cat puked on your shoe. You’re trying to  

make the situation funny because it’s not so 
serious. So if you are trying to comfort in  

a serious situation, you can avoid lighten up.
Our next weird phrasal verb is to screw up. Do  

you know what a screw is? It’s this, something 
that you use when you’re building something. But  

is this phrasal verb related to building, 
to screw up? If I say, “Ah, I screwed up,”  

does it mean I’m building something? No. Instead, 
take a look at this sentence. I screwed up the  

recipe and added too much salt. Oh no. This means 
that I ruined the recipe. I did something awful  

that destroyed my meal. I screwed up the recipe.
Or we could simply say, “I screwed it up. Sorry  

guys, we’re going to have to order pizza, because 
the meal I was making is ruined.” Or you might  

say, “If you screw up, it’s best to admit your 
mistakes and try to make it better.” If you  

screw up. Just a little note, this phrasal verb is 
very casual, so I do not recommend using this in a  

business situation. If you forgot about a project 
that you were supposed to have finished at work,  

do not say, “Sorry, boss. I screwed up.” It’s a 
little too casual. Maybe if your work atmosphere  

is very, very laid back, very casual and relaxed, 
maybe you could say that, but overall, I recommend  

using this only for daily conversations. 
“Oh, I screwed up. How can I make it better?” 

Our final strange phrasal verb is to space 
out. Hmm, space is air or space is outer space,  

something beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. The 
moon, the sun, Mars are in outer space. All of  

the stars are in outer space. Hmm, to space 
out. Does this mean you are an astronaut?  

No. Instead, take a look at this sentence. 
I spaced out in class and when the teacher  

called on me, I didn’t know the answer. 
You can imagine you’re sitting in class.  

You’re not paying attention. You’re just 
staring off into space, that’s what we say.  

Staring off into space and then the teacher 
says, “Vanessa, what’s the answer?” Oh, oh,  

I don’t know. You spaced out and you’re not 
present. Your attention is not in that moment. Or  

we could say, “The politician’s speech was so long 
and boring that almost all of the audience stopped  

paying attention and just spaced out.” Maybe they 
looked into space, so they closed their eyes. Hmm. 

I hope that this lesson was not too boring and 
you didn’t space out. I hope it was interesting.  

If you spaced out, well, now it’s time for a test. 
Hmm. So I hope that you’ll be able to at least  

guess some of the correct answers. I’m going to 
be telling you three sentences and there will be  

a blank in the sentence. You need to guess, 
what is the best phrasal verb to go in the  

sentence? Let’s take a look at the first one.
Number one, I’m totally, I just saw a bear walk  

close to me in the dark. I’m totally flipping out 
or I’m totally clamming up. Hmm. What do you think  

is the best phrasal verb for this sentence? This 
actually happened to me. I was staining our deck  

outside. This is like a paint, like an oil paint 
that you put on wood. And it was late at night,  

nine or 10:00 PM. I was just trying to finish it. 
And I heard a sound like that, very deep sound.  

And I looked up and there, right in 
front of the deck, was a huge, huge bear. 

And where I live, bears are black, 
they’re black bears. So in the dark,  

it’s almost impossible to see them. Thankfully, I 
was on the deck, but it was a little too close to  

me. And I ran inside and said, “Dan.” That’s my 
husband. “Dan, there’s a bear outside. Go look.”  

And we looked outside, the 
bear crossed our driveway,  

crossed through our front yard, and it just 
walked into someone else’s yard. There are  

many bears around where I live, but it’s not 
common to see them because usually they’re shy.  

They don’t come out in public much, except to 
dig through your trash and stuff like this. 

But the original sentence is I, 
Hmm. What do you think I did? I  

am totally flipping out. “There’s a bear! Oh my 
goodness, let’s go see it! Oh, it was so close to  

me!” This is a very shocking situation.
All right, test sentence number two. I  

should, this essay because it’s only one 
paragraph. I should scarf down this essay or  

I should beef up this essay. What is the 
best weird phrasal verb for the sentence?  

I should beef up this essay, because it’s only one 
paragraph. If you gave your teacher an essay that  

was only one paragraph, they’d probably look at 
it and say, “Did you forget to write this? Why is  

it so short?” So you need to improve it. You need 
to add more to that essay. You need to beef it up. 

Test sentence, number three. To speak confidently 
in English, I need to take a deep breath  

and, about my mistakes. And screw up about my 
mistakes or, and lighten up about my mistakes.  

Which weird phrasal verb feels the best? Hmm. 
Well, you need to lighten up about your mistakes.  

Don’t feel too serious about making 
mistakes. It is part of learning. 

So I’d like to know, tell me in the comments, what 
was your score on this little phrasal verb test?  

Let me know in the comments and don’t chicken 
out. Tell me. Well, thank you so much for learning  

English with me and I’ll see you again next Friday 
for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye. 

The next step is to download my free ebook, Five 
Steps to Becoming a Confident English Speaker.  

You’ll learn what you need to do 
to speak confidently and fluently.  

Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel 
for more free lessons. Thanks so much. Bye.