rev

UK/ɹɛv/

verbB22 meaningsVery rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speech — revel sits at #9,113neutral

Other forms: revs, revving

To rev an engine is to make it roar by pressing the accelerator while going nowhere. The noise a motorbike makes at a red light.

You rev an engine, and an engine revs. As a noun, revs are revolutions per minute — the needle on a rev counter, an engine held at high revs. The phrasal form does a lot of work: rev up means both to start an engine roaring and to build excitement before something begins. And revved up describes a person as readily as a car, as in he was revved up and could not sit still.

Definitions of rev

1verbrevTo make an engine turn faster and louder.B2
“He revved the engine at every set of lights.”
2nounminuteA revolution of an engine in one minute, usually used in the plural.B2
“The revs climbed as the car pulled away.”

Phrases it lives in

rev up — to start an engine roaring, or to build excitement before something begins

Where it comes from

Abbreviation of revolutions, rpm

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

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rev