roll up

phraseB22 meaningsNot compared — the two pools are counted one word at a time, so a phrase has no score

To roll up is to turn a sleeve over on itself, again and again. Two or three turns and it stays put.

It applies to sleeves, trousers, mats, posters and carpets. Rolling your sleeves up has become a metaphor for getting down to hard work, and it is used far more often figuratively than literally. There is a second sense meaning to arrive, usually late, so rolling up at eleven is a complaint. And roll up is the traditional shout of a fairground barker calling people in.

Definitions of roll up

1phraseroll upTo turn something over on itself into a roll.B2
“He began to roll up his sleeves.”
2phrasearriveTo arrive, especially late or casually.C1
“They will roll up when it suits them.”

Phrases it lives in

roll your sleeves up — prepare to work hard

Where it comes from

The "arrive by vehicle" sense involves the notion of being on wheels (or, similarly, on tank treads); it is conceptually coordinate with walk up as in "approach"; thus, both can take to as preposition (e.g., roll up to, walk up to, belly up to).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Clothes & Fashion, A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 3 of A Man Called Ove.

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