to tot up
- phrasal verb
- UK
- Before you submit your report, please tot up all the expenses incurred during the project.
Examples
-
In any event, let's tot it up.
Blog text (2) -
Basically the questions have to do with toting up on one side of the Ledger.
-
I'm going to go now and tot up these scores and I will come back and tell you who is the winner and this very, very important contest.
-
At the end of the game, we need to tot up the points to see who won.
-
She had to tot up her weekly earnings to budget for her upcoming vacation.
Synonyms
Put numbers or amounts together to find their total
To add two or more numbers to find their total
Find the total of several numbers
To add numbers together to find the whole amount
Collect small amounts until they become a larger total
To count or add things like points and votes
To calculate the total of two or more numbers by putting them together
Add several numbers to find the total
Add up numbers in a column to find the total
Add numbers to find the total
To add numbers together to find the total
Add numbers in a column to find the total
To add small amounts together to make a total
How Exact
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to calculate the total' is directly derivable from combining 'tot' (to add or sum) with the particle 'up', which conveys completion/aggregation. This verb + up pattern is a productive, compositional English construction (and has parallels cross-linguistically), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to understand the expression.
Etymology
The phrasal verb tot up comes from an old use of tot for a small amount or a single mark on a list, and the word up for bringing numbers together. When people added those small amounts and brought the numbers up to one final amount, they were 'totting up', so tot up now means 'to calculate the total'.