to buck up
14
6.3
- phrasal verb
- /bʌk ʌp/
- Informal
:
animar
- You should buck up and take it like a man.
- trying to buck up
- tell him to buck up
- Buck up, little
And does this person, can they feel it from family, community, oh, buck up, it's not that bad.
- And does this person, can they feel it from family, community, oh, buck up, it's not that bad.
- But but back then, the idea of how you dealt with trauma, it was mostly, hey, buck up, you know, get on with things, which after a few months, I I did.
Examples
-
Now, look, son, you gotta buck up.
-
Her advice was a reminder of what was expected of her readers: to buck up, dry their eyes, and respect their commitments.
Blog text (6) -
Do you think you could just buck up for three days on this?
-
I have decided to buck up and add my lifted spirit to help our country.
Blog text (3) -
Democrats are just going to have to buck up, get tough, and work harder now.
Blog text (7) -
The Democrats need to buck up and get their heads in the game.
Blog text (2) -
Kirk tries to buck up the young captain.
Fiction book (1994) -
It's time to buck up and choose a team that looks committed to becoming a contender.
Blog text (22) -
You gotta buck up, man, you can't go into the tournament with this negative attitude.
Fiction book (1998) -
Buck up, you can do this; just believe in yourself.
Synonyms
392
1.0
To make someone feel happier
215
3.7
To help someone become better off or more confident
165
3.0
To get better or stronger
69
4.1
To become or make someone feel more cheerful and relaxed
66
3.9
To make or become more active and interesting
40
6.3
To give someone courage to do something
28
4.1
Make someone feel excited and full of energy
23
3.2
To make someone feel happier and more hopeful
19
3.7
To make someone feel happier and more hopeful
17
2.7
Make a room or person more cheerful
16
3.1
Become more lively and cheerful after feeling tired or sad
15
7.1
Stay positive and keep going when things are difficult
11
4.5
Feel more hopeful and confident when facing trouble
8
3.9
To make someone feel happier
8
6.5
To stay cheerful and hopeful when things go wrong
5
3.7
Make people feel more confident and positive
3
4.1
Make someone or something more lively and interesting
3
5.6
To make someone feel very excited about something
1
3.4
Help someone feel happier
1
8.1
Feeling more confident and encouraged after something good happens
To make someone feel more cheerful and confident
Gather the courage to face a hard task
To try to make someone feel happier when they are sad
To make someone feel happier or more lively
Make people more interested and eager about something
Antonyms
How Encouraging
837
3.2
∞
2.3
- Informal
14
6.3
- Informal
234
1.4
40
3.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
The particle 'up' reliably signals improvement or an increase, so a learner might infer a general sense of 'become better'. However, the verb 'buck' does not transparently mean 'cheer' or 'encourage' for a B1 learner (its common senses like 'resist' or 'male deer' do not map onto 'cheer'), so the full meaning is not predictable from the parts. Because part of the sense (the improving/upward direction) is clear but the core lexical contribution is not, this is best classified as semi-transparent.
Etymology
Buck up may come from the image of a buck, a male deer, jumping up and full of energy. One popular story says that to 'buck up' is to get lively like that animal, so today buck up means 'become or make someone more cheerful or brave'.