up
verb/ʌp/
/ʌp/
Verb Forms
Idioms | present simple I / you / we / they up | /ʌp/ /ʌp/ |
| he / she / it ups | /ʌps/ /ʌps/ |
| past simple upped | /ʌpt/ /ʌpt/ |
| past participle upped | /ʌpt/ /ʌpt/ |
| -ing form upping | /ˈʌpɪŋ/ /ˈʌpɪŋ/ |
- [intransitive] up and…(informal or humorous) to suddenly move or do something unexpected
- He upped and left without telling anyone.
- [transitive] up something to increase the price or amount of something synonym raise
- The buyers upped their offer by £1 000.
Word OriginOld English up(p), uppe, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch op and German auf.
Idioms
See up in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionaryraise/up the ante
- to increase the level of something, especially your demands or the risks in a situation
- This year tournament organizers have upped the ante by offering record prize money for the top two teams.
up your game (informal)
- to improve the level at which you can compete, especially in a sport
- She's really upped her game since she joined the tennis club.
- With these two snazzy new restaurants opening up, the other eating places in the area are going to have to up their game.
up sticks (British English)
(North American English pull up stakes)
- (informal) to suddenly move from your house and go to live somewhere else
- He upped sticks and went back to France.
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