Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
✅ To finish 🎁 To cover fully 🧣 To dress warmly 🌀 To roll up
to wrap up

to wrap up

7 3.4
Roll something into a tube by turning it around
  • phrasal verb
  • /ræp ʌp/
translation icon : enrollar
  • He decided to wrap up the leftovers in plastic before storing them in the fridge.

Examples

  • The second was to wrap up his own affairs and make sure that his manuscripts were left in good hands.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • "Our goal is to say that zero people voted," he told the volunteers as he wrapped up the presentation.

    Blog text (31)

  • Obama is about to wrap up the Democratic nomination, but is that even news?

    Blog text (30)

  • I'm sort of wrapping up this thing for Jaye.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • ON THE TV SCREEN: The REPORTER wraps up her story.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Doris wraps up tuna sandwiches and oatmeal cookies and pours a thermos of strong coffee for Herb.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Please wrap up the gift before you give it to her.

  • After I finish my homework, I will wrap up my notes and pack them away.

Synonyms

to roll
vsto wrap up
387 1.3

To shape something into a long round form by turning it

focuses on making a tube by folding or turning around itself
to roll up
vsto wrap up
25 3.4

Fold or turn something so it becomes a tight round shape

is specifically about forming a tube by turning it around itself

Antonyms

to unroll
12 2.0

To spread out something like a carpet or map that was wrapped up

How Rolled

to coil
7 3.8
to wind
225 3.2
to wrap up
7 3.4
to roll
387 1.3

Surface Forms

wrap up infinitive
wrapped up past
wrapped up past participle
wrapping up present participle
wraps up third person singular

Morphology

wrap + up

The meaning 'to finish' is a metaphorical extension of the literal sense of 'wrap' (to cover or enclose) combined with the particle 'up' that signals completion, so a learner who knows the parts can often infer it. However, this is a phrasal-verb pattern where the particle's contribution is somewhat idiomatic and not fully predictable across contexts or languages, so it is only partially transparent.

Etymology

Wrap up comes from the simple idea of folding something around itself to wrap it up into a tight tube, like rolling a poster. So it means 'to roll something into a tube' for storage.