do up

phraseB12 meaningsNot compared — the two pools are counted one word at a time, so a phrase has no score

To do up is to fasten something — or to repair and redecorate it. Buttons, or a whole house.

The fastening sense covers buttons, zips, laces and coats, and doing up your coat is what you are told before going out. The renovating sense is very British, and a house described as needing doing up is a project, with the noun a doer-upper for the property itself. It splits round an object. Undo is the opposite of the first sense only.

Definitions of do up

1phrasefastenTo fasten a garment or its buttons.B1
“Do up your laces before you trip.”
2phrasedo upTo repair and redecorate a building.B2
“They plan to do up the cottage over the winter.”

Practised in Phrasal Verbs, A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 4 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

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do up

phraseB12 meaningsNot compared — the two pools are counted one word at a time, so a phrase has no score

To do up is to fasten something — or to repair and redecorate it. Buttons, or a whole house.

Definitions of do up

1phrasefastenTo fasten a garment or its buttons.B1
“Do up your laces before you trip.”
2phrasedo upTo repair and redecorate a building.B2
“They plan to do up the cottage over the winter.”

Practised in Phrasal Verbs, A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 4 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word