to prim up
1
7.6
- phrasal verb
- She decided to prim up for the company dinner, wearing her best dress and pearls.
Examples
-
Whenever there's a family photo, my aunt insists that everyone prim up first.
-
Before the interview, he took a moment to prim up in front of the mirror.
-
She always prims up before attending formal events.
-
He needs to prim up for the job interview.
-
Before the meeting, she took a moment to prim up and smooth her hair.
-
He always prims up in a shirt and tie when he goes to work.
-
For the wedding, they decided to prim up in their finest outfits.
Synonyms
351
2.7
Put on special clothes for an event or to look attractive
70
2.0
To wash and make yourself look neat
53
4.0
Put on formal clothes or a uniform for an event
29
4.1
To make a place or person look neat and smart
25
3.8
To make yourself or a place look cleaner and nicer
24
5.7
To be well dressed and neat
8
8.6
To dress or decorate in a fancy way to look nicer
8
3.9
Make yourself look attractive by dressing and doing your hair or makeup
8
7.2
To get ready by fixing your clothes, hair, or makeup carefully
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
3
6.8
Make yourself or someone more stylish using clothes and makeup
2
7.0
To dress and arrange your hair carefully to look good
2
7.2
To dress up and make yourself look attractive for a special event
1
6.5
Make something look more stylish and attractive
1
6.8
Make a person look neat and more attractive by dressing and grooming them carefully
1
9.9
To dress carefully to look fancy
1
8.1
To act or dress in a very formal, proper way
1
8.2
To put on special clothes to look nice for an event
1
9.4
To put on special clothes to look attractive for an event
1
9.9
To put clothes on someone, often in a special way for warmth
To dress in very neat, formal clothes to look too proper
Antonyms
How Proper
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derivable from 'prim' (to behave or dress formally) plus the particle 'up', which here signals becoming or intensifying that state (make more prim). The verb+up construction is productive and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can reasonably infer 'prim up' = dress/arrange oneself formally.
Etymology
Prim up may come from the simple picture of someone making themselves very neat: to make yourself prim (tidy) and pull yourself up to look ready for an event. So, it means 'to dress or arrange yourself in a neat, proper, or formal way'.