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Glite Dictionary
to slow up

to slow up

8 2.7
Move or make something move less quickly
  • phrasal verb
  • /sloʊ ʌp/
translation icon : reducir la velocidad
  • Don't slow up now!
  • Hey, slow up
  • slow up too
  • gonna slow up

So I feel like I got to slow up a little bit and just think better do better.

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Examples

Synonyms

to slow
vsto slow up
957 1.0

Make something move or happen at a lower speed

shares the same sense of becoming less fast in use
to slow down
vsto slow up
687 1.4

To move or act more slowly

has identical meaning and is used interchangeably in the same situations
to ease up
vsto slow up
57 3.7

To make something less strong or strict

reduces movement or progress speed rather than easing pressure or rules
to impede
vsto slow up
35 6.5

To slow the progress or movement of people and things

describes lowering speed or progress rather than causing blockage
to retard
vsto slow up
26 8.4

To make something happen more slowly

means a simple reduction in movement or progress without implying blockage
to decelerate
vsto slow up
10 5.5

To slow down

means the same general slowing of movement or progress
to slack
vsto slow up
3 5.3

To reduce effort, speed or attention

is narrower, concentrating on slower movement or progress itself
to slacken
vsto slow up
1 4.9

Become or make slower, for example the wind

focuses specifically on reducing movement or progress rate instead
to ratchet down
vsto slow up
1 7.2

To make something less in small steps that are hard to bring back

lowers movement or progress directly rather than in staged irreversible steps
to slack up
vsto slow up
  • UK
1 5.7

Move, act, or work less quickly and with less energy

refers more directly to reducing motion or progress rate

Antonyms

to speed up
161 2.5

To make something move or happen faster

How Fast

to speed up
161 2.5
to slow up
8 2.7
to slow down
687 1.4
to stall
36 3.9

Surface Forms

slow up infinitive
slowed up past
slowed up past participle
slowing up present participle
slows up third person singular

Morphology

slow + up

The meaning 'to move or become slower' is directly derived from the verb 'slow' (to reduce speed); the particle 'up' here does not introduce an opaque idiomatic shift but functions as a combinatory particle, so the overall sense remains compositional. A B1 learner who knows 'slow' and the basic sense of 'up' would readily infer the MWE's meaning from its parts.

Etymology

Slow up comes from a simple road picture: slow means to go less fast and up shows the change in motion, like lifting your foot off the gas so a car loses speed. So, slow up means 'to move or make something move more slowly'.