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🔌 To connect devices 💏 To start dating
to hook up

to hook up

213 3.7
To connect devices so they work together
  • phrasal verb
  • /hʊk ʌp/
translation icon : conectar
  • We've got a modem line hooked up with the database in New York.
  • hook up a computer

By the way, hooking up two cables, that won't help.

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Examples

  • In two years, it will be getting digital LCD projectors, which will be hooked up to workstations.

    Academic text (2007)

  • Make sure you hook up the speaker to the audio system before the party starts.

  • Next step we're going to do is hook these things up to our view.

  • OK, so if I hook that up to this, I should see.

  • So you can hook up the power bank while using it.

  • You gotta pull this around and hook it up to the block, okay?

    WWJD II: The Woodcarver (2012)

  • Second step is to hook up the outlet.

  • In theory, he said, she should be able to hook the phone up to her laptop and get e-mail.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • And so here's the finished LED indicator thing that I can hook up here to the bus.

  • We've got our power cord, it's hooked up to there.

Synonyms

to connect
vsto hook up
445 2.7

Attach something to power or a network so it works

focuses on physical setup of devices usually by attaching cables
to link up
vsto hook up
  • Informal
9 3.0

To join people, places, or things so they become connected

applies specifically to assembling technical devices and attaching cables
to interconnect
vsto hook up
5 4.7

Join things so they can work together

is about arranging hardware into working systems often using cables
to connect up
vsto hook up
1 3.3

To join machines so they can share power or information using wires

focuses on setting up hardware and attaching cables so systems work together
to link-up
vsto hook up
  • Specialized
1 3.7

To connect devices or systems so they can work together

is limited to arranging physical devices and their cables

How Connected

to integrate
179 4.1
to connect
445 2.7
to hook up
213 3.7
to attach
459 2.5

Surface Forms

hook up infinitive
hooked up past
hooked up past participle
hooking up present participle
hooks up third person singular

Morphology

hook + up

The core idea of bringing together or connecting is derivable from 'hook' (to catch/fasten) plus the particle 'up', so a learner who knows the words might infer a general sense of meeting or connecting. However, the specific informal/slang sense 'to have a casual sexual or romantic encounter' is a metaphorical, register-specific extension that is not fully predictable from the constituents and can vary cross-linguistically. Because of that gap between the literal 'connect' meaning and the idiomatic sexual/romantic sense, the expression is best classified as semi-transparent.

Etymology

Hook up: The phrasal verb hook up comes from the image of using a hook or cable to join one thing to another, like plugging devices together. So, to hook up a phone or stove means 'to connect' them so they work together.