punch up

See also: punchup and punch-up

English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): (noun) /ˈpʌntʃ ˌʌp/
    • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • IPA(key): (verb) /ˌpʌntʃ ˈʌp/

Verb

punch up (third-person singular simple present punches up, present participle punching up, simple past and past participle punched up)

  1. (transitive) To beat (someone) up by punching, to fist-fight.
    He came back all punched up. He got a few stitches — they really punched him up good.
  2. (intransitive, slang) To attack, counterattack, or target a group of greater power or status than oneself.
    Synonyms: punch upward, punch upwards
    Antonym: punch down
    Coordinate terms: counterpunch, fight back
    Her standup act involves a lot of punching up. It's possible to punch down in standup, a little bit here and there, but it's tricky to get right.
  3. (transitive) To make bolder, zestier, or more exciting.
    Coordinate terms: spruce up, gussy up, enliven
    Near-synonyms: kick up, spice up
    He punched up his sauce with some habaneros. He figured he needed something to punch it up a little.
    • 2013, America's Test Kitchen, Comfort Food Makeovers: All Your Favorites Made Lighter:
      To punch up the flavor even more, we looked to an untraditional ingredient: fish sauce.
    • 2025 June 30, Adrienne Matei, “‘Hey man, I’m so sorry for your loss’: should you use AI to text?”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC:
      Yet AI is becoming the invisible infrastructure of personal communications, too – punching up text messages, birthday cards and obituaries, even though we associate such compositions with “from the heart” authenticity.
      (Can we archive this URL?)
  4. (transitive, television) To switch (a source) into the main transmission.
    • 1970, Larry G. Goodwin, Thomas Koehring, Closed-circuit Television Production Techniques, page 80:
      Sound films have to be loaded so that the sound is 5 seconds before the sound drum so a wow does not result when the film is punched up on the air.
    • 1982, Thomas D. Burrows, Donald N. Wood, Television Production: Disciplines and Techniques, page 132:
      In this illustrated example, camera 2 is punched up on the program buss and is therefore being sent out directly […]

Noun

punch up (plural punch ups)

  1. Misspelling of punch-up.

References

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