turn up

Formsturns up, turning up, turned up

1. 1
   increasephrasal verbtransitive

   To increase something such as volume, heat or light by adjusting a control.

   Could you turn up the heat? It's freezing in here.

   She turned the music up so loud that the neighbors complained.

   Similarincrease, raise, boost

   Oppositelower, reduce

   Note

   Either the setting or the device can be the object: turn up the volume or turn up the radio, turn up the heat or turn up the stove. Song lyrics stretch it to anything that can be made more intense, as when Dua Lipa's "Dance the Night" (2023) applies it to the beat of the music.

2. 2
   phrasal verbintransitive

   To show up somewhere, or to appear suddenly or unexpectedly.

   My lost keys finally turned up in the pocket of my winter coat.

   He turned up late and soaking wet, with no explanation at all.

   Similarappear, arrive, surface, materialize

   Note

   Arrival is the core, but the verb can also work as a link, joining its subject to the state it arrives in: he turned up soaking wet, she turned up drunk. It sits comfortably beside time expressions too, as with the man in the gap who turns up at the eleventh hour in Joyce's Ulysses (1922), or people who turn up without an appointment.

3. 3
   find by searchingphrasal verbtransitive

   To bring something to light, or to find it by searching or similar effort.

   The investigation turned up new evidence against the mayor.

   If the file still exists, a careful search of the servers will turn it up.

   Similaruncover, unearth, find, discover, reveal

   Note

   A search, an investigation or a dig is often the subject that turns things up, and the object can sit on either side of up: turn up new evidence, turn the file up. A pronoun has to go inside, turn it up and never turn up it, and the same rule holds for every transitive use of the phrase.

4. 4
   flip upwardphrasal verbtransitive

   To move something into an upward position by turning, folding or flipping it.

   She turned up the collar of her coat against the wind and hurried on.

   He turned the brim of his hat up so he could see the stage.

   Similarraise

5. 5
   party hardphrasal verbslangintransitive

   To party hard, especially with alcohol or drugs.

   The DJ told the crowd it was time to turn up, and the dance floor exploded.

   We turned up so hard at the wedding that nobody remembers the cake.

   Similarparty

   Note

   Most of the time this slang is an invitation or a boast: let's turn up, we turned up all weekend. It takes no object, and since the same words mean to show up, the music, the drinks or the crowd around it have to signal the party; we're going to turn up at the concert could mean either.

6. 6
   bottom of pantsnoun · turn-upcountable

   Fabric folded up at the bottom of a pair of pants to shorten them.

   The tailor pressed a neat turn-up into each leg of the suit pants.

   Sand from the beach had collected in the turn-ups of his khakis.

   Similarcuff

   Note

   The noun comes straight from the verb of folding upward, and it is written with a hyphen, like every noun from this phrase: turn-up. A pair of trousers has two, so the word usually appears in the plural, the turn-ups; cuff and trouser cuff name the same fold.

7. 7
   lucky surprisenoun · turn-upfigurativelycountable

   A stroke of good luck, or anything that turns out unexpectedly; especially in the phrase turn-up for the book(s).

   Getting the job after such a rough interview was a real turn-up.

   What a turn-up: the restaurant we had given up on had a table free after all.

   Similarsurprise

   Note

   Racing talk shows the sense at work: in Racing Illustrated (1896) the fielders have a fine turn-up when the favorite runs badly and an outsider wins, and turn-up for the book, a result that suits the bookmaker, keeps that betting flavor. In everyday use it is any pleasant surprise, often announced as now here's a turn-up.

8. 8
   card gamenoun · turn-upcountable

   In card games, the next card taken from the top of the deck and shown face up.

   Everyone at the table groaned when the turn-up was yet another two.

   Three turn-ups in a row were spades, and the players began to suspect the shuffle.

   Note

   What the card decides depends on the game. In euchre the turn-up proposes the trump suit, which the players may accept or refuse; in cribbage it is the shared starter card that every hand counts with, and a jack turned up scores for the dealer.

9. 9
   secure ropephrasal verbtransitive

   To belay a line, making it fast on a cleat or pin.

   Haul the jib sheet tight and turn it up on the cleat.

   The deckhand turned up the halyard on its pin just before the gust hit.

   Similarbelay, secure

   Note

   Sailors turn up a line on a cleat by taking a turn around its base, crossing over the horns in figure-eights and finishing with a locking hitch, so the line holds firm but can be cast off fast. On traditional ships the same is done on belaying pins set in a rail, and the order names the line: turn up the main halyard.

10. 10
    flap booknoun · turn-uphistoricalcountable

    A book for children with flaps that can be lifted to reveal the text or pictures beneath.

    The museum's toy collection includes an early turn-up with hand-colored flaps.

    Books with flaps which lifted up and down and known as "turn-ups" came about in 1795 and were listed in Laurie and Whittle's catalogue.

    1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background

    Note

    The books were named for how they worked: a flap turned up or down to change the picture beneath it. Laurie and Whittle listed turn-ups in their catalog, and the word is historical now, met in the writing of collectors and historians of children's toys rather than in bookstores.

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