rev up
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English
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (General Australian): (file)
Verb
[edit]rev up (third-person singular simple present revs up, present participle revving up, simple past and past participle revved up)
- (idiomatic) To increase the speed of an engine, especially that of a stationary motor car.
- 2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:
- The huge Rolls-Royce engine revved up. Then the back wheels spun furiously, and clouds of smoke filled the air.
- (by extension, transitive) To make (someone or something) more active.
- 2008 January–February, “70 Ways to Improve Every Day of the Week”, in Men's Health, volume 23, number 1, →ISSN, page 134:
- Blast out of the gate on Monday by listening to up-tempo music before your workout. Israeli scientists say this can raise your heart rate, rev you up for an intense exercise session, and temporarily boost muscle power by 10 percent.
- (by extension, intransitive) To become more active.
- 2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 225:
- I didn't much want to leave again, but, though I'm not sure I exactly understand why, I just knew I had to rev up again to play this thing out.
Synonyms
[edit]- (to increase the speed of an engine): give it the gun, tach up
Translations
[edit]to increase the speed of an engine
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