Animals Phrasal Verbs: Among the various parts of speech in the English language students need to learn about the various phrasal verbs to learn to speak like a native. Students can learn about these to enrich their knowledge about the subject.
We can learn some interesting phrasal verbs and use them to describe events and situations in our everyday life.
The article contains a collection of non-literal phrases that is used to describe something else. Just like in other languages, English also has phrasal verbs, and people use the Animal phrasal verbs quite commonly worldwide.
This article provides a list of Animal Phrasal Verbs a to z and defines various Animal Phrasal Verb and Meaning in detail for your convenience and ease of identifying them.
Study the most important English Vocabulary Words identified by our experts and learn the right vocabulary to use in your day to day conversations
Name of Animal Phrasal Verbs
List of Animal Phrasal Verbs
- Chicken out
- Clam up
- Duck out
- Drone on
- Fish for
- Fish out
- Horse around
- Hound out
- Leech off
- Pig out
- Wolf down
- Monkey away
- Beaver away
- Ferret out
- Worm out of
- Rat on
- Rabbit on
- Monkey with
- Turn turtle
- Squirrel away
- Ferret around
- Lark around/ about
Meaning and Examples of some commonly used Animal Phrasal Verbs
Chicken out
Meaning: This phrasal verb means that someone does not do something or does not want to do something because they are afraid of the task.
Example: I wanted to chicken out of sky-diving but my friends forced me to do it.
Clam up
Meaning: This phrasal verb means that someone has become silent or stopped talking; to shut up.
Example: The child tends to clam up whenever we ask her about her family and friends.
Duck out
Meaning: It means that someone went away from a place without announcing it and left quickly.
Example: She ducked out of the party before it was over and left everyone puzzled.
Drone on
Meaning: It means that someone keeps on talking for a long time in a boring way.
Example: I almost fell asleep when the teacher kept droning on about chemistry!
Fish for
Meaning: This phrasal verb means that you are asking for something or trying to get something out of someone in an indirect way.
Example: He was fishing for compliments and I told him exactly what he wanted to hear.
Fish out
Meaning: It means to pull something out of a place.
Example: The lady fished out a piece of paper from her purse and gave it to the man.
Horse around
Meaning: It means that someone is playing in a loud or a rough way.
Example: My brother was horsing around in the kitchen and broke my favourite cup instantly.
Hound out
Meaning: This phrasal verb means that someone is forced to leave a place, job etc. since things have been made extremely unpleasant for them.
Example: The landlord hounded out the family from their home after eighteen months of abuse.
Leech off
Meaning: It means that someone is using someone else or clinging to them for their personal gain and does not give back anything in return for it.
Example: The boss has the ability to leech off the abilities of others and take credit for it later.
Pig out
Meaning: This phrasal verb means that someone eats a lot of food at once.
Example: The children tend to pig out on junk food at home.
Wolf down
Meaning: It means that someone can eat or is eating very quickly.
Example: Don’t wolf down on the cream cake otherwise you will get indigestion soon.
Monkey around
Meaning: This phrasal verb means that someone is behaving is a stupid and careless manner.
Example: Students, please stop monkeying around and listen to the instructions.
Beaver away
Meaning: It means that someone is working very hard at something or a task.
Example: She was beavering away at the homework until it was too late.
Ferret out
Meaning: This phrasal verb means that someone has found something, such as some information after searching for it carefully.
Example: The police had to ferret out all the information to learn the truth about the robbery.
Worm out of
Meaning: It means that someone is drawing or manipulating information out of someone.
Example: My mother managed to worm out a few details out of my sister about the incident.
Rat on
Meaning: This phrasal verb means that someone has informed on someone to a person in a position of authority for their gain.
Example: I never thought that my best friend, John would rat on me.
Rabbit on
Meaning: It means that someone keeps on continuing to talk about something that does not seem interesting to the person they are talking to.
Example: My brother is always rabbiting on about his computer games.
Monkey with
Meaning: This phrasal verb means that someone is bothering or interfering with someone or something.
Example: Please don’t monkey with my new laptop! I cannot let you handle it.
Turn turtle
Meaning: It means that something has turned upside down or has flipped over.
Example: The large boat was turned turtle by the large wave that came their way.
Squirrel away
Meaning: This phrasal verb means that someone has hidden or stashed something for future use.
Example: She had bits of string, cans of nails and lots of other small items squirreled away through her garage.
Ferret around
Meaning: It means that someone is searching for something by sorting through some materials.
Example: It is best that we know more about this new chap. Why don’t we go to his home town and ferret around a bit?
Lark around/ about
Meaning: This phrasal verb means that someone is behaving in a silly way since they think that it is funny.
Example: The two boys kept larking around in the pool.