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Glite Dictionary
to buck up your ideas

to buck up your ideas

9.2
Try harder and make your work and attitude better
  • idiom
  • UK
translation icon : mejorar tu actitud
  • If you want to pass your exams, you'll need to buck up your ideas and study harder.

Examples

  • Competition forces you to be sharp and buck up your ideas.

    Brexit: The Movie (2016)

  • - You'll have to buck up your ideas.

    A View to a Kill (1985)

  • And if Mitt is really serious about this and really does intend to make a go of a career on the after-dinner circuit, then he has to considerably buck up his ideas.

    Blog text (23)

  • To impress your manager, you should buck up your ideas and show more initiative at work.

  • After receiving feedback on his project, he realized he needed to buck up his ideas to meet the expectations.

Synonyms

to shape up
vsto buck up your ideas
23 3.2

Start to get better and more complete

refers to starting to make more effort or improve now
to buckle down
vsto buck up your ideas
  • Informal
11 4.4

To start working hard and seriously after wasting time

involves starting to make more effort or improve behaviour
to step up one's game
vsto buck up your ideas
  • Informal
6 4.9

Work harder to improve your skills and do better

is about beginning to improve attitude, behaviour, or performance
to buck
vsto buck up your ideas
  • Informal
5 5.9

To try hard to get a higher job or more responsibility

focuses on starting to improve attitude or general performance not career advancement
to pull your finger out
vsto buck up your ideas
  • UK
9.3

To start trying much harder after being lazy

is about beginning to improve attitude or performance generally
to lift one's game
vsto buck up your ideas
  • Informal
6.1

Try to do better to meet higher standards

focuses on starting to improve behaviour or general performance

Antonyms

to laze
7 4.3

To spend time relaxing and doing very little

to slack off
  • Informal
3 3.9

To become less strong or busy

How Determined

to commit
706 3.4
to buck up your ideas
  • UK
9.2
to improve
∞ 1.0
to try
∞ 1.0
to coast
26 2.5

Surface Forms

buck up your ideas infinitive
bucked up your ideas past
bucked up your ideas past participle
bucking up your ideas present participle
bucks up your ideas third person singular

Morphology

buck + up + your + idea

There is a clear clue from the particle 'up' (indicating improvement) and 'your ideas' (attitude/plans), so a learner could partly infer a sense of 'make your ideas/behavior better'. However, the verb 'buck' in this phrasal use and the specific collocation 'buck up your ideas' is British and somewhat idiomatic, so the exact meaning and usage are not fully predictable from the parts. This makes it partially but not fully transparent to a B1 learner.

Etymology

Buck up your ideas may come from the image of a strong deer, a buck, jumping up full of energy. To buck up something is to make it more lively and ideas are your thinking, so the phrase means 'start trying harder' and 'make your thinking better'.