soup up
to make something more powerful or impressive
TRANSLATION
soup up = frisieren, aufmotzen --- GOOGLE INDEX soup up: approximately 300,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
Aggressive styling, a renewed focus on design, SOUPED-UP interiors and zippy small cars are becoming more common on the showroom floor as automakers jostle for position with a group that is expected to soon be buying one in every four cars sold in the US.
(New York Daily News)
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Today Mark Zuckerberg took the curtain off the SOUPED-UP Facebook search tool, saying it’s meant to provide users with a "precise answer" rather than a link to an answer by leveraging the data already present on its site.
(Future of Media blog)
(New York Daily News)
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Today Mark Zuckerberg took the curtain off the SOUPED-UP Facebook search tool, saying it’s meant to provide users with a "precise answer" rather than a link to an answer by leveraging the data already present on its site.
(Future of Media blog)
Did you
know?
soup up
idiom
- increase the power and efficiency of an engine or other machine
- make something more elaborate or impressive
(Oxford English Dictionary)
---
The expression "soup up" first appeared in the U.S. in the 19th century, While the origin is unclear, it may be an abbreviation of "supercharged" (soup and the first syllable in supercharged are pronounced the same) or it may stem from a horse racing slang term for injecting horses with performance-enhancing drugs (horse owners figured this out long before professional cyclists).
Although soup up is often used to describe automobile engines, it can be applied to any situation in which something is made more powerful or attractive. Soup, which derives from the French soupe (soup, broth) and the Late Latin suppa (bread soaked in broth), can be found in several other interesting expressions. Below is a sample:
- in the soup = in a bad situation (I forgot my login password. Now I'm really in the soup!)
- from soup to nuts = almost anything one can think of (The electronics store across the street sells everything from soup to nuts)
- duck soup = very easy to do (For John, fixing things around the house is duck soup). Note: no one knows the origin of this odd expression.
- alphabet soup = too many abbreviations and acronyms (How come every e-mail from the engineering department is filled with alphabet soup?). Note: this phrase stems from a soup dish that is made with pasta in the form of various letters.
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SYNONYMS
augment, beef up, boost, charge up, enhance, spike, jack up, jazz up, upgrade
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"You will have to soup up your computer before you can use this software."
idiom
- increase the power and efficiency of an engine or other machine
- make something more elaborate or impressive
(Oxford English Dictionary)
---
The expression "soup up" first appeared in the U.S. in the 19th century, While the origin is unclear, it may be an abbreviation of "supercharged" (soup and the first syllable in supercharged are pronounced the same) or it may stem from a horse racing slang term for injecting horses with performance-enhancing drugs (horse owners figured this out long before professional cyclists).
Although soup up is often used to describe automobile engines, it can be applied to any situation in which something is made more powerful or attractive. Soup, which derives from the French soupe (soup, broth) and the Late Latin suppa (bread soaked in broth), can be found in several other interesting expressions. Below is a sample:
- in the soup = in a bad situation (I forgot my login password. Now I'm really in the soup!)
- from soup to nuts = almost anything one can think of (The electronics store across the street sells everything from soup to nuts)
- duck soup = very easy to do (For John, fixing things around the house is duck soup). Note: no one knows the origin of this odd expression.
- alphabet soup = too many abbreviations and acronyms (How come every e-mail from the engineering department is filled with alphabet soup?). Note: this phrase stems from a soup dish that is made with pasta in the form of various letters.
---
SYNONYMS
augment, beef up, boost, charge up, enhance, spike, jack up, jazz up, upgrade
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"You will have to soup up your computer before you can use this software."
