Meaning of Idiom ‘Act Up’ (phrasal verb)
1. To act up, usually in regards to children, means to behave badly or cause trouble.
2. In regards to machinery or electronics, to malfunction or to not operate abnormally.
3. In regards to medical conditions and their symptoms, to act up means to become active. Often used in regards to allergies. 1Heacock, Paul. Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2010. 2Bengelsdorf, Peter. Idioms in the News – 1,000 Phrases, Real Examples. N.p.: Amz Digital Services, 2012.
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Examples Of Use
“If you children keep acting up, we are not going to go to the amusement park.”
“I don’t know what’s wrong with my dog, he never acts up like this. Maybe he is sick.”
“My computer acted up yesterday so I wasn’t able to get my report finished.”
“The car is acting up so I’m going to have to take a cab to work today.”
“Can you open this jar?” asked Mom. “My arthritis is acting up.”
“When my allergies act up I usually just take one pill, but today was a two-pill day!”
Origin
Used since around 1900. 3Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.
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Sources
| 1. | ↲ | Heacock, Paul. Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2010. |
| 2. | ↲ | Bengelsdorf, Peter. Idioms in the News – 1,000 Phrases, Real Examples. N.p.: Amz Digital Services, 2012. |
| 3. | ↲ | Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013. |