to muster up
10
5.1
- phrasal verb
- /ˈmʌstər ʌp/
:
hacer acopio de
- After a long day, she managed to muster up the energy to go for a run.
- muster up courage
- muster up strength
- muster up confidence
And so now what's difficult is it's hard to muster up energy for contradictions.
- And so now what's difficult is it's hard to muster up energy for contradictions.
- Another aspect of this gift giving obligation is that you have to muster up the courage to disappoint people early.
- And, and, and I realized that this was something that I had to do truly independently, but it took me a while to muster up the courage to to do it.
- So I muster up all the courage I can and I open my mouth and I say hold left, clear, right, which is a basic tactical call.
- A mother has such a gentle heart, gentle touch, gentle words that a dad simply cannot muster up.
- But talent is not something that you watching this right now can go home and say I'm going to muster up more talent in art, in business, in sports.
- I was like, let me muster up A to give for this, OK, Because how the story blew up is so wild to me.
Examples
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The amount of courage that you can muster up in situations is like nothing people have ever seen.
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So I mustered up all my strength, and I pushed myself up off the ground.
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But because this is a marriage and we both agreed to this, then I would try to muster up the strength to forgive.
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We're mustering up whatever troops we can get and going back in.
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Maybe I should have mustered up the courage, strength, or will to get up and out.
Blog text (18) -
I saw him from across the room and I finally mustered up the courage to go say hi, and he blew me off!
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Finally, the reporter mustered up his courage, asking, "But what about the future?"
Fiction book (1999) -
She mustered up incredible courage, because she knew that God was looking after her.
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After months of staring and plotting, Hurley was able to muster up enough courage to approach this vixen.
Blog text (6) -
Sarah-Bell reined in her emotions, mustered up her fortitude, and tenderly enfolded Johnny-Bell into the shelter of her bosom.
Fiction book (1999)
Synonyms
159
3.7
To get better after an illness or problem
84
5.4
To gather people, supplies, or courage for a purpose
54
4.5
Find the strength or courage to do something difficult
50
3.4
Gather people or things and organize them to reach a goal
43
2.1
Bring things together by picking them up with your hands
23
5.7
Make soldiers and weapons stronger before a fight
Gather the courage to face a hard task
Antonyms
How Much
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to gather or summon (energy, courage, etc.)' is directly derivable from combining 'muster' (to collect or summon) with the particle 'up' (indicating increase or intensification). This follows a common English verb + up pattern that signals gathering/raising, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
The phrasal verb muster up comes from leaders calling soldiers to a muster, a meeting where people gathered before battle. So when you 'muster up' 'courage' or 'energy', you imagine bringing it together like troops, and that is why it means 'to collect or bring together strength with effort'.