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Antonyms for build up

Grammar : Verb
Spell : bild-uhp
Phonetic Transcription : ˈbɪldˌʌp

Definition of build up

Origin :
  • late Old English byldan "construct a house," verb form of bold "house," from Proto-Germanic *buthlam (cf. Old Saxon bodl, Old Frisian bodel "building, house"), from PIE *bhu- "to dwell," from root *bheue- "to be, exist, grow" (see be). Rare in Old English; in Middle English it won out over more common Old English timbran (see timber). Modern spelling is unexplained. Figurative use from mid-15c. Of physical things other than buildings from late 16c. Related: Builded (archaic); built; building.
  • In the United States, this verb is used with much more latitude than in England. There, as Fennimore Cooper puts it, everything is BUILT. The priest BUILDS up a flock; the speculator a fortune; the lawyer a reputation; the landlord a town; and the tailor, as in England, BUILDS up a suit of clothes. A fire is BUILT instead of made, and the expression is even extended to individuals, to be BUILT being used with the meaning of formed. [Farmer, "Slang and Its Analogues," 1890]
  • verb amplify, advertise
Example sentences :
  • You pull down, you despoil; but they build up, they restore.
  • Extract from : « The White Company » by Arthur Conan Doyle
  • You'll have to send Andrew to build up the stack again—that's all.
  • Extract from : « Ranald Bannerman's Boyhood » by George MacDonald
  • When the machine is started, it will then build up in the right direction.
  • Extract from : « The Automobile Storage Battery » by O. A. Witte
  • The generator must be driven in the proper direction or the generator will not build up.
  • Extract from : « The Automobile Storage Battery » by O. A. Witte
  • We were most ingenious in our devices to build up this belief.
  • Extract from : « Gerald Fitzgerald » by Charles James Lever
  • If we build up this throne, he who sits on it is our viceroy; we have made, and can unmake him.'
  • Extract from : « Gerald Fitzgerald » by Charles James Lever
  • With honesty as the basis, what may not one build up of character?
  • Extract from : « A Day's Ride » by Charles James Lever
  • First, make grandfather comfortable in his room, and build up this fire.
  • Extract from : « 'Smiles' » by Eliot H. Robinson
  • Now, reader, if you like the character of Paul Duncan, build up one like it.
  • Extract from : « Little By Little » by William Taylor Adams
  • They began to advertise her sketches as "different" and to build up a vogue.
  • Extract from : « Jane Journeys On » by Ruth Comfort Mitchell

Synonyms for build up

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019