Primeiro, “finish” tem basicamente o mesmo sentido de seu phrasal verb “finish off”, sendo a preposição “off” apenas uma intensificador do sentido verbal de “finish”. Assim, estes significar concluir a parte final de algo de modo que o mesmo se encontrará completo.
- I’ve nearly finished my work.
- I wish you’d let me finish my sentence!
- They hired a smaller company to finish off the job.
- I just need to finish off a few things first.
Quando usamos “finish” no sentido de “terminar de fazer alguma coisa”, nós dizemos “finish doing something”, ou seja, usamos infinitivo sem TO depois de “finish”.
- She had just finished dressing the children when the phone rang.
“Finish” também é usado no sentido de “parar de ocorrer”.
- All classes finish at noon today.
- The game finished with the score tied.
Os phrasal verbs “finish off” e “finish up” significam basicamente a mesma coisa, “to eat, drink, or use all of something so that there is none left”
- We finished a bottle of wine between us.
- Do you want to finish off these sandwiches?
- Finish up your drinks, please.
“Finish” também é usado para se referir a posição de uma pessoa em uma corrida ou competição.
- She finished fifth.
Usamos também as expressão “toques finais” com “the finishing touch/touches”
Em linguagem informal, nós temos:
1. [transitive] INFORMAL to kill someone:
Ex.: It was the drink that really finished him off.
2. [transitive] INFORMAL to make someone feel extremely tired:
Ex.: That walk around the lake just about finished me off!
3. [intransitive] to be in a particular place or situation at the end of a long series of events:
Ex.: She eventually finished up in Boston.
Ex.: I always finish up doing most of the work.
Syn.: to end up
4. Finish with something if you are finished with something, you have stopped using it and no longer need it:
Ex.: When you’re finished with the sponge, simply rinse it in cold water.
5. To finish with someone INFORMAL is to end a relationship with someone so that they are no longer your boyfriend or girlfriend [The Macmillan English Dictionary, © 2006 MacMillan Publishers Limited]