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Glite Dictionary
🚪 To make possible 🗣️ To share feelings 🏪 To start operating 🔓 To unlock or unseal
to open up

to open up

143 3.4
Begin to work and serve customers, like a shop or theater
  • phrasal verb
  • /ˈoʊpən ʌp/
translation icon : abrir
  • With a loan from her parents, Romy opens up her own studio in Knightsbridge on Trelawny Road.
  • open up for business

PS Yes, things are opening up here in LA...

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Examples

  • I just got married, just moved to a small town, just opened up an antique shop.

    Hansel and Gretel (1983)

  • But they say they're definitely going to open it up to the rest of the world real soon now.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • So I think we can just open up the room to questions.

  • So my question is I'm looking to open up a ranch for at risk teens.

  • It's a great opportunity to open up the vineyard as an event destination.

    Destination Love (2022)

  • All right, And now I'd love to open up the floor to Q&A.

  • Can you help me open up a halal Taco shop?

  • The new cafe will open up next week and serve fresh coffee every morning.

  • She decided to open up a tutoring center to help local students improve their grades.

  • After much preparation, the organizers are ready to open up the community center for events.

Synonyms

to start
vsto open up
∞ 1.0

To begin an action, event or process

applies specifically to bringing businesses or institutions into operation rather than general beginnings
to open
vsto open up
∞ 1.0

To begin an event or activity

focuses on causing an organization or service to function rather than merely initiating an event
to start up
vsto open up
38 3.0

To make a machine or system begin to work

is used mainly for businesses or institutions beginning to operate

Antonyms

to shut down
541 2.9

Stop a machine, business, or system from working

How Operational

operational
102 4.1
to open up
143 3.4
to reopen
182 1.4

Surface Forms

open up infinitive
opened up past
opened up past participle
opening up present participle
opens up third person singular

Morphology

open + up

The meaning 'to make something open or become open' is directly and predictably derived from 'open' (to remove closure) combined with the particle 'up', which here adds a completive/intensive sense. This verb+particle composition is a regular, cross-linguistically common pattern, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would reliably infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Open up may come from the sight of shops lifting their shutters and making the place open by pulling the shutters up, letting customers in. So it means 'to start operating' or 'to open for business'.