run up
Britishverb
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to amass or accumulate; incur
to run up debts
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to make by sewing together quickly
to run up a dress
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to hoist
to run up a flag
noun
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an approach run by an athlete for a long jump, pole vault, etc
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a preliminary or preparatory period
the run-up to the election
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Make or become greater or larger, as in That offer will run up the price of the stock . [Late 1500s]
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Accumulate, as in She ran up huge bills at the florist . [First half of 1700s]
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Sew rapidly, as in I can run up some new curtains for the kitchen . [Mid-1800s]
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Raise a flag, as in Let's run up the flag in time for the holiday . This usage, originating in the navy about 1900, gave rise to the slangy phrase, Let's run it up the flagpole and see if anybody salutes , meaning, “Let's try this out.” The latter originated about 1960 as advertising jargon.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
And it has run up the price on what will be a larger competitor, once Paramount Skydance and Warner Discovery get their merger over the necessary regulatory hurdles.
AI stocks are sliding from lofty levels, and as I discussed here last week, just about everything else has recently run up—value, small-caps, cyclicals, staples, and more.
From Barron's
Meanwhile, Ryui is tasked with discovering what became of Jack’s previous roommate, who disappeared after running up a significant debt.
After winning a competition to be an England mascot, he spent the days running up to England's meeting with Italy learning the words to the national anthem.
From BBC
Investors had run up Nvidia’s stock in the lead-up to its highly anticipated earnings report released after the stock market’s closing bell Wednesday, said Stockton.
From MarketWatch
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
