- Wade through: Get to the end of something with difficulty: It took me ages to WADE THROUGH the book.
- Wait about: Wait somewhere doing nothing. I WAITED ABOUT for an hour, but they didn’t come.
- Walk away from: Leave something you don’t like: You can’t just WALK AWAY FROM your problems.
- Warm up: Do exercises before a sport: The team WARMED UP half an hour before the volleyball match.
- Wash away: When floods or waves completely remove a structure, building, etc. The ice cream stall on the beach was WASHED AWAY in the storm last night.
- Watch out for: Be careful of something: WATCH OUT FOR bats in the caves; many have rabies.
- Wave down: Make a hand signal to stop a vehicle: TThey WAVED the van DOWN and got a lift after the accident.
- Wean off: Slowly stop a dependency on something: We will have to WEAN him OFF his obsession.
- Wear away: Erode, remove gradually: The lawn has been WORN AWAY by people walking across it and it’s just bare soil now with hardly a blade of grass.
- Weed out: Remove, get rid of: The company WEEDED OUT the unsuccessful sales reps.
- Weigh in on: Enter an argument or discussion to express a strongly felt idea: She WEIGHED IN ON their immigration policies.
- Weigh on: Make someone consider carefully: The issues raised WEIGHED ON her mind.
- Wheel round: Turn quickly and face in the opposite direction: She WHEELED ROUND when he told her to stop.
- While away: Spend time doing something because you have nothing better to do: We WHILED a couple of hours AWAY playing computer games.
- Whip into: Enter rapidly (as for a brief errand): Ben WHIPPED INTO the convenience store for a bag of crisps.
- Wimp out: Not be brave enough to do something: I was going to have the hottest curry on the menu, but I WIMPED OUT and had a mild lamb Korma instead.
- Winkle out: Find or get something that takes a great deal of effort: It took me a while to WINKLE the truth OUT of him.
- Wipe out: Make someone very tired: Revising for the exam last night WIPED me OUT.
- Word up: Give someone information, advice: The solicitor WORDED her UP client before the police interview, so they go very little out of him.
- Work through: Deal with, resolve a problem, often emotiona: It took him a long time to WORK THROUGH his anger after he lost his job.