jack up
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: jacks up
form: jacking up
form: jacked up
form: jacked up
Etymology: * Sense of “hoist with a jack” is from 1885; then, “increase prices, etc.” (1904, American English); both ultimately from noun jack (“mechanical device used to raise heavy objects”)
* “Screw up, mess up” sense derived from, or influenced by fuck up, as a bowdlerization; also possibly influenced by jacked up (“high, intoxicated”)
* First dialectal idiomatic meaning: “abandon, give up” (1873), possibly a corruption of chuck up, as chuck up the sponge (“give up, concede, give token of submission”)
Senses: examples: text: He jacked the car up to change the tire
text: The oil rig can be jacked up higher when the hydraulic legs touch the sea floor.
text: Nor was there any proof that they had been improperly used in jacking up the end of the car.
ref: 1907, United States Circuit Courts of Appeals Reports, volume 82, page 433:
text: From this time forward the overhang to the east of the center row was carried entirely on the clay, the shoring screws from the G and H piers having been removed to assist in jacking up at the west side.
ref: 1916, Engineering and Contracting, volume 45, page 113:
text: When alteration of train formation is necessary, coupling and uncoupling of sections is carried out by jacking up the front end of each section so that the socket of the drawbar is lifted clear of the pin of the drawbar of the section ahead.
ref: 1962 September, P. Ransome-Wallis, “The Talgo trains of Spain”, in Modern Railways, page 179:
text: 1987 August, A. K. Hamlin, letter to Homeowners′ Clinic, Popular Mechanics, page 109,
How can I secure them without jacking up the whole house to get the bolts in?
glosses: To raise, hoist, or lift a thing using a jack, or similar means.
examples: text: I can't believe they're going to jack up the price of gasoline again — and after they already raised it twenty cents a gallon!
text: Although 4.1 million tickets were sold for the 2023 shows—including over 2 million on the first day, a new record—scalpers jacked up prices on the secondary market to more than $22,000.
ref: 2023 December 6, Sam Lansky, “Person of Year 2023 : Taylor Swift”, in Time, archived from the original on 06 Dec 2023:
glosses: To raise, increase, or accelerate; often said of prices, fees, or rates.
examples: text: I'm not letting him use my computer again; he always jacks it up.
glosses: To ruin; wreck; mess up; screw up; sometimes as a bowdlerized substitution for fuck up.
examples: 1881?, Garnet Walch, A Little Tin Plate, Google Books
Says I, “Let's jack up, man alive, / An' try further down on the Creek!” / “All right!” says my mate, “but we'll drive / Right an' left to the end of this week.”
1888, Rolf Boldrewood, Robbery Under Arms, chapter 19, Google Books
Not but what I'd had a lot to bear, and took a deal of punishment before he jacked up.
1900, John Strange Winter, A Self-Made Countess: The Justification of a Husband, page 201 alternate source
“I don't think I shall enter for the Point to Point this year, because we're going to jack up.”
“Going to jack up what?” asked one, while the others looked up enquiringly.
“We're going to jack up the Service. […]”
synonyms: jig up
throw up
chuck up
discontinue
jack in
glosses: To give up; to abandon (something, e.g. a job, contract)
glosses: To organise something.
topics: ball-games
basketball
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To shoot, especially in the context of a poor shot opportunity.
examples: text: I jacked up the recipes with some fresh ingredients.
glosses: To improve or embellish on (something).
glosses: To refuse to follow an order.
glosses: To criticize, discipline or reprimand.
Related terms: word: jack-up
english: as adjective
translation: as adjective
word: jacked up
word: jack-up-the-orchard