UP

1. Up indicates movement to a higher place or position. ‘I looked up and saw a beautiful rainbow arching across the sky’. By extension, up means upstairs, or to go upstairs. Run up and tell Mabel her boyfriend’s here to see her. It can also refer to something already set in an erect or upright position. “On Sundays I have my breakfast sitting up in bed’.

Ask, be, bring, come, get, go, hang, hold, jack, jump, keep, look, paste, pick, pile, pin, pop, post, put, run, set, shoot, sit, stand, stay, stick, take, throw up.

2. Up is also used to mean an increase in size, number or intensity. ‘Just when we thought the fire was going out, it flared up again’. ‘If you turn up the volume, we can’t hear ourselves speaking’.

Add, add (to), brush (on), build, bump, come (to),  flare, gear (for), go, grow, jack, key, kick, mount, muster, pile, pluck, point, polish, put, ramp, screw, shoot, sit, speak, aped, split, step, stir, summon, tense, turn, warm, wind up.

3. A common meaning of up is the idea of approaching and coming level with (somebody or something). It can be used in both a physical and figurative sense. ‘He came up and asked us the time’. ‘I’m not taking any more calls today. I have to catch up with my work’. Similarly, up refers to the act of interfacing; that is, meeting or facing something halfway. ‘You’d better face up to the problem. Do something about it before it becomes too big for you to handle.

Bring, catch up (on, with), chase, close, come, come up against, come up with, cough, crop, cuddle, drive, face up (to), feel up to, go up (to), keep up (with), live up to, make, pick, pull, ride, roll, run up against, show, stand up for, stand up to, take, think, turn, walk up.

4. Up lends emphasis to a verb. To eat up, for instance, means to eat all---to finish one’s food. ‘Come on---drink up! We have to be back in the office before the Boss comes’. ‘I had a hard time sweeping up after the office party, because the floor was full o papers, food and other debris’. The idea of completion---of finality---is central to this meaning. ‘The river dried up three years ago. Now we have to draw water from wells’. That store has been boarded up ever since the owner died’. The sense of finality can refer to complete destruction. ‘The small fishing boat was swallowed up by the raging seas’. ‘Whenever she opens her letterbox, the first thing she does is rip up all of the junk mail she’s received’.

Add, be, beat, blow, board, break, burn, buy, carve, chop, clam, clean, clear, close, cloud, clutter, count, cover, fill, finish, fold, follow, give, hang, hurry, join, lead (to), light, line, lock, make, oplen, pack, pay, read, rip, screw, shut, smash, swallow, tear, tidy, tie, use, wash, wind, write up.

6. Up makes the verbs more informal. 'Why don't you cook up something'. 'Clean up after you finish playing'

7. Other meanings of up... ‘He didn’t want to pay so much for a suit but, in the end, he coughed up’. ‘Do up your shoe lace---it's trailing on the ground’. ‘The oppressed people rose up against the tyrannical leader’.