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Glite Dictionary
🛏️ To share space 😂 To bend over 🎲 To risk winnings
to double up

to double up

1 3.4
Bend over and curl up because of sudden pain or strong laughter
  • phrasal verb
  • /ˈdʌbəl ʌp/
  • Informal
translation icon : encorvarse
  • And Quincy doubles up and crumbles for no better reason than he expects pain.
  • doubled up with laughter
  • doubled up in pain
  • doubled up in agony

Examples

  • "I doubled up like I'd been hit in the stomach.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • Slavo doubled up with laughter in his chair.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • "And again you double up with laughter."

    Fiction book (1997)

  • When she returned, she was pale and silent and spent a lot of time doubled up over the toilet bowl.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • Dan doubled up, and the breath came out of him in a faint shriek.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • The Elder Cop gut-punches him, and Eddie doubles up.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • He doubles up to recover, panting hard.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • Stripped, he lay beneath a buffalo robe, doubled up, aching.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • He was on his side, with his knees doubled up and gasping for breath, and in another flash of lightning, she saw his face, all contorted and covered in dust.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • The comedian told a hilarious joke, and the audience doubled up with laughter.

Synonyms

to double
vsto double up
56 4.2

To bend over because of pain or strong laughter

focuses on laughter or pain rather than sickness
to hunch over
vsto double up
17 4.2

Bend forward with rounded shoulders and back

refers to bending from pain or laughter, not a posture habit
to double over
vsto double up
10 3.3

To bend forward suddenly because of strong pain or laughter

describes bending over usually without the sudden, sharp action

Antonyms

to straighten up
15 1.6

Sit or stand so your back and shoulders are straight

How Bent

to double up
  • Informal
1 3.4
to bend
268 1.0
to incline
1 4.4
to stand
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

double up infinitive
doubled up past
doubled up past participle
doubling up present participle
doubles up third person singular

Morphology

double + up

The verb 'double' clearly signals making something twice as large and the particle 'up' adds an increase/intensifying sense, so a B1 learner would likely infer that the phrase involves increasing a stake or amount. However, the specific gambling practice of staking previous winnings on the next wager is a specialized, collocational sense that is not fully predictable from the constituents alone, making the expression only partially transparent.

Etymology

Double up comes from the image of your body folding into two parts, as if you are 'doubled' when you bend over. That's why it means 'to bend over or curl up' from pain or laughter.