15/10/2008 using animal names as verbs

beaver
noun [C]
plural beavers or beaver

1. an animal with smooth fur, sharp teeth and a large flat tail, which lives in a dam (= a wall of sticks and earth) that it builds across a river
2. INFORMAL a person who works very hard:

• a busy beaver

beaver away phrasal
verb INFORMAL
to work hard for a long time:

• She has been beavering away at that essay for hours.

monkey (COPY)
verb [T] US INFORMAL
to copy or mimic someone

monkey about/around (with sth)
phrasal verb INFORMAL DISAPPROVING
to behave, or to use or move things, in a silly and careless way:

• The children were bored and started monkeying around.

hog (PERSON)
noun [C] INFORMAL DISAPPROVING
someone who takes much more than a fair share of something, especially by eating too much:

• You've eaten it all? You hog!

verb [T] -gg- INFORMAL
to take or use more than your share of something:

• He's always hogging the bathroom (= spending too much time in the bathroom, so that no one else can use it).

hare (RUN)
noun [C] plural hares or hare
an animal like a large rabbit that can run very fast and has long ears

verb [I + adverb or preposition] MAINLY UK
to run or go very quickly, usually in an uncontrolled way:

• I saw her haring off down the road after Molly.

beetle (HURRY)
verb [I] UK INFORMAL
to go somewhere quickly:

• Hoping to miss the traffic jams, she beetled off home at four o'clock.

swan (GO)
verb [I usually + adverb or preposition] -nn- UK INFORMAL DISAPPROVING
to travel, move or behave in a relaxed way for pleasure and without caring that others may feel annoyed:

• She swanned into the room, carrying a glass of wine, taking no notice of the fact that she'd kept us all waiting for hours.
• He's been swanning around the States (= travelling and not doing any work) all summer.

fox
verb [T]
to confuse someone or be too difficult to be understood by someone:

• This puzzle has well and truly foxed me!

verb [T]
to deceive someone in a clever way

worm (MOVE)
verb [I or T; + preposition]
to succeed in moving along in a difficult or crowded situation, by moving your body slowly and carefully:

• Because he was so small, he could worm (his way) through the crowd.
• [R] She wormed herself under the fence.

worm yourself/your way into sth
phrasal verb DISAPPROVING
to gradually achieve a position of trust, possibly by being dishonest:

• [R] He wormed himself into her affections without her ever suspecting he only did it for her money.

worm sth out of sb
phrasal verb INFORMAL
to try and get information from someone which they are trying to keep secret:

• He wasn't going to tell me, but I managed to worm it out of him.

wolf (EAT)
verb [T] INFORMAL
to eat a large amount of food very quickly:

• The boys wolfed the sandwiches (down) and then started on the cakes.

cry wolf
DISAPPROVING
to ask for help when you do not need it:

• If you cry wolf too often, people will stop believing that you need help.

dog (PROBLEM)
verb [T] -gg-
to cause difficulties:

• Technical problems dogged our trip from the outset.

rat (PERSON)
noun [C] INFORMAL
an unpleasant person who deceives others or is not loyal

rat on sb/sth phrasal verb SLANG DISAPPROVING
to be not loyal to someone, especially by giving away secret information about them, or to fail to do something that you said you would do:

• He ratted on us.
• They ratted on the deal.