Dictionary

talk up en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (idiomatic, transitive) To talk about (something or someone) to make it seem as good as possible or to draw positive attention to it.
   • The restaurant had been talked up way too much, that it left me somewhat disappointed.
   • Moreover, the new Prime Minister has already talked up the need for new strike-breaking legislation, in the form of requirements for railworkers to provide a minimum service during any industrial action. 2022 September 21, Christian Wolmar, “Trevelyan must 'give a damn' and engage with the railway”, in RAIL, number 966, page 45:
   • Charlie's been talking up Robbie in an attempt to set him up with Lucy.
2. (idiomatic, intransitive) To talk louder.
3. (intransitive) To speak in a plain and candid way, or with bold impudence.
   • “Look here, friend,” said I, “if you have anything important to tell us, out with it; but if you are only trying to bamboozle us, you are mistaken in your game; that’s all I have to say.” And it’s said very well, and I like to hear a chap talk up that way; you are just the man for him—the likes of ye. 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 19”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

Forms

Relateds

chat up

Synonyms

speak up (talk louder) · promote (talk about someone positively) · big up (talk about someone positively)

Translations (1)

uk вихваля́ти (to glorify)