0 a phrase that consists of a verb with a preposition or adverb or both, the meaning of which is different from the meaning of its separate parts: --
1 a combination of a verb and an adverb or a verb and a preposition, or both, in which the combination has a meaning different from the meaning of the words considered separately: --
"Catch on" is a phrasal verb meaning to understand.
It sometimes indicates direction in phrasal verbs (verb-adverb combinations) like stand up or get up or fill up.
Many newspapers and periodicals regularly incorporate phrasal verbs into their headlines.
As a class, early system morphemes include determiners, plural affixes, as well as satellites in what are sometimes called phrasal verbs.
A phrasal verb is used in an idiomatic, figurative or even metaphorical context.
Some such compound nouns have a corresponding phrasal verb but some do not, partly because of historical developments.
However, when to hold up means "to rob", it is a phrasal verb.
Modern theories of syntax tend to use the term "phrasal verb" to denote particle verbs only; they do not view prepositional verbs as phrasal verbs.
A phrasal verb can be a one-word verb, of which compound verb is a type.