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turn up

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

To turn up is to appear unexpectedly — or to raise the volume. Arrival and a dial, in the same two words.

The arriving sense is the commonest in British English, and turning up unannounced is a whole social offence. Things turn up too, since a lost item turns up eventually. The volume sense is the exact opposite of turning it down. There are two more: turning up a hem shortens a garment, and something turning up means an opportunity arriving, which is the whole philosophy of one famous Dickens character.

Definitions of turn up

  1. 1phraseturn upTo arrive, often unexpectedly.B2

    “He will turn up when the food is ready.”

  2. 2phraseincreaseTo increase the volume or heat.A2

    “Turn up the heating, it is freezing in here.”

Also practised as

  • phraseTo increase the volume or the heat.

Where it comes from

turn-up a deverbal from turn up.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Phrasal Verbs, A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 2 of A Man Called Ove.

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