to tidy up
36
1.5
- phrasal verb
- /ˈtaɪdi ʌp/
- Informal
- She decided to tidy up the living room after the guests left.
- tidy up the house
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Watch on YouTubeAnd now I need to well, tidy this all up, put it away.
- And now I need to well, tidy this all up, put it away.
- We'll be cutting stuff back, pulling stuff, planting things, tidying up.
- That's why I'm laying on the bed and Zoe is downstairs tidying up and editing her own video.
- And so the only way that I had control was what I ate and also how I tidied up my toys.
- Yes, you will feel a weight lifted, but you won't experience lasting contentment by simply tidying up.
- Of our two last steps, one is optional and one is, well, I guess it's optional, but please tidy up your cables.
- You know, I also really like doing with a like new colour eyeliner is I actually like tidying up my lip liner with it.
Examples
-
I just need to tidy up this room.
-
You really have to tidy up your room, pal.
-
- I want you to tidy up the kitchen.
-
And maybe you can tidy up around here a little bit too.
-
I have to tidy up.
-
Yes, I'll just tidy these up.
-
But let's tidy up first before your daddy gets here.
-
OK, it's time to organize and tidy up the crazy amount of cables.
-
Diane, be a good girl and tidy up the back porch, will you?
Fiction book (2001) -
If you don't mind, I need to tidy up a bit before they get home.
Fiction book (1997)
Synonyms
841
1.0
To make a room or area free of dirt and tidy by removing mess
195
1.6
Make a place or things tidy and in order
194
1.6
Arrange people, things, and activities so they work well
117
2.6
Tidy a bed or room so it looks neat
112
1.7
To put things or information in a clear, neat order
61
2.1
Bring things together by picking them up with your hands
44
1.0
To make a place neat by putting things away
37
3.4
To change the way something is arranged to make it work better
29
1.0
To make a house clean and tidy by removing dirt and putting things in order
25
3.8
To make yourself or a place look cleaner and nicer
12
2.7
Make a room neat by putting things away
12
2.8
To put things into groups and into the right order
6
4.1
To remove things you do not need from a room or desk to make it tidy
4
3.6
To make something tidy and ready to use
4
4.8
Make yourself or a place look neater and more stylish
3
7.2
Make a person or place look neater and nicer by cleaning and adding small things
1
3.7
To make something tidy by arranging things in order
1
3.2
To make a place tidy and organized
1
5.8
To clean and tidy a room to make it ready to use
1
4.1
To remove things you do not need to make a place tidy and easier to use
1
7.5
To arrange things in a clear, ordered way for easy use
1
8.4
Make things ready in the right order before you need them
To tidy a messy place and put things in order
Antonyms
How Thorough
Surface Forms
Morphology
tidy + up
The meaning is directly compositional: 'tidy' means to make neat and the particle 'up' adds a completive/thorough sense, so 'tidy up' straightforwardly means to make something neat and orderly. This verb+up phrasal pattern is very common in English (and similar completive constructions exist cross-linguistically), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Tidy up comes from the simple picture of gathering messy things and putting them up on a shelf or into boxes so the room becomes tidy. So, tidy up means 'to make a place neat and in order'.