to tidy up
32
1.5
- phrasal verb
- /ˈtaɪdi ʌp/
- Informal
:
ordenar
- She decided to tidy up the living room after the guests left.
- tidy up the house
And now I need to well, tidy this all up, put it away.
- And now I need to well, tidy this all up, put it away.
- We'll be cutting stuff back, pulling stuff, planting things, tidying up.
- That's why I'm laying on the bed and Zoe is downstairs tidying up and editing her own video.
- And so the only way that I had control was what I ate and also how I tidied up my toys.
- Yes, you will feel a weight lifted, but you won't experience lasting contentment by simply tidying up.
- Of our two last steps, one is optional and one is, well, I guess it's optional, but please tidy up your cables.
- You know, I also really like doing with a like new colour eyeliner is I actually like tidying up my lip liner with it.
Examples
-
I just need to tidy up this room.
-
You really have to tidy up your room, pal.
-
- I want you to tidy up the kitchen.
-
And maybe you can tidy up around here a little bit too.
-
I have to tidy up.
-
Yes, I'll just tidy these up.
-
But let's tidy up first before your daddy gets here.
-
OK, it's time to organize and tidy up the crazy amount of cables.
-
Diane, be a good girl and tidy up the back porch, will you?
Fiction book (2001) -
If you don't mind, I need to tidy up a bit before they get home.
Fiction book (1997)
Synonyms
662
1.6
Arrange people, things, and activities so they work well
433
1.0
To make a room or area free of dirt and tidy by removing mess
162
1.7
To put things or information in a clear, neat order
161
1.6
Make a place or things tidy and in order
48
2.6
Tidy a bed or room so it looks neat
43
3.4
To change the way something is arranged to make it work better
43
2.1
Bring things together by picking them up with your hands
42
1.0
To make a place neat by putting things away
37
2.8
To put things into groups and into the right order
21
1.0
To make a house clean and tidy by removing dirt and putting things in order
18
3.6
To make something tidy and ready to use
13
3.8
To make yourself or a place look cleaner and nicer
12
3.2
To make a place tidy and organized
8
2.7
Make a room neat by putting things away
5
4.1
To remove things you do not need from a room or desk to make it tidy
1
5.8
To clean and tidy a room to make it ready to use
1
3.7
To make something tidy by arranging things in order
1
7.2
Make a person or place look neater and nicer by cleaning and adding small things
1
4.1
To remove things you do not need to make a place tidy and easier to use
1
4.8
Make yourself or a place look neater and more stylish
To tidy a messy place and put things in order
Make things ready in the right order before you need them
To arrange things in a clear, ordered way for easy use
Antonyms
How Thorough
Surface Forms
Morphology
tidy + up
The meaning is directly compositional: 'tidy' means to make neat and the particle 'up' adds a completive/thorough sense, so 'tidy up' straightforwardly means to make something neat and orderly. This verb+up phrasal pattern is very common in English (and similar completive constructions exist cross-linguistically), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Tidy up comes from the simple picture of gathering messy things and putting them up on a shelf or into boxes so the room becomes tidy. So, tidy up means 'to make a place neat and in order'.