In this English lesson, you will learn 20 useful phrasal verbs about clothes.
Useful Phrasal Verbs about CLOTHES
List of Clothing Phrasal Verbs in English
1. Do up
Meaning: Fasten an item of clothing
E.g. You don’t need to do up the top button.
2. Dress up
Meaning: Dress (oneself or another) in your best clothes
E.g. You don’t need to dress up. It’s just a family get-together
3. Dress up
Meaning: Put on fancy dress in children’s games
E.g. For her birthday party, they had dressed her up as a fairy
4. Dress down
Meaning: Wear clothes that are more informal than those you usually wear
E.g. He dressed down on his first date.
5. Hang out
Meaning: Dry clothes outside after washing
E.g. Have you hung the washing out?
6. Hang up
Meaning: Put something on a hook or a hanger
E.g. The women hung up their coats and sat down.
7. Have on
Meaning: Wear an item of clothing on one’s person
E.g. Melissa had her new dress on.
8. Kick off
Meaning: Make your shoes come off by shaking your feet
E.g. He kicked his shoes off as soon as he got home.
9. Put on
Meaning: Dress yourself or someone else with an item or items of clothing
E.g. She put on her coat and went out.
10. Slip on
Meaning: Put on an item of clothing easily
E.g. She slipped her sandals on before she went into the sea.
11. Take off
Meaning: Remove any item of clothing
E.g. Anna took off her sandals.
12. Take in
Meaning: Make clothing narrower
E.g. I’ll have to take this dress in at the waist – it’s too big.
13. Take up
Meaning: Reduce the length of a piece of clothing
E.g. I want to take this pair of pants up. It’s too long.
14. Try on
Meaning: Put on an item of clothing to find out whether it fits or is suitable
E.g. What a lovely dress! Why don’t you try it on?
15. Throw on
Meaning: Put on a piece of clothing quickly and carelessly
E.g. She just threw on the first skirt she found.
16. Turn up
Meaning: Shorten trousers, a dress or a skirt so that they fit better
E.g. Her jeans were too long, so she turned them up.
17. Wrap up
Meaning: Put warm clothes on
E.g. I could hear my mother telling me to wrap up warm.
18. Zip up
Meaning: To be closed by means of a zip
E.g. He zipped up his leather jacket.
19. Let out
Meaning: Make clothing wider
E.g. I’m going to have this skirt let out.
20. Let down
Meaning: Use the extra cloth in the hem of a piece of clothing to make it longer
E.g. This skirt needs letting down.