buckle up

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

buckle up (third-person singular simple present buckles up, present participle buckling up, simple past and past participle buckled up)

1. (transitive) To fasten with a buckle.
   • 1855, Charles Dickens, “The Holly-tree. Third Branch—The Bill”, in Christmas Stories […] (The Works of Charles Dickens; XV), de luxe edition, London: Chapman and Hall, published 1881, →OCLC, page 63:

     It was eight o'clock to-morrow evening when I buckled up my travelling writing-desk in its leather case, paid my Bill, and got on my warm coats and wrappers.

2. (intransitive, idiomatic) To fasten one's seat belt or safety belt.

   Synonym: belt up

   Buckle up every time you drive somewhere in a car, and make sure your passengers buckle up, too.

3. (intransitive, idiomatic, by extension, usually imperative) To get ready, to prepare oneself.
   • 2019 February 27, Robert Kirkman, Outcast By Kirkman & Azaceta #39, Image Comics:

     So buckle up for what's coming, readers!

Translations

to fasten one’s seat belt or safety belt

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 繫上安全帶／系上安全带 (jìshang ānquándài)

• Czech: připoutat se
• Finnish: kiinnittää turvavyö
• French: s’attacher (fr)
• German: (sich) anschnallen (de)
• Italian: allacciarsi impegnarsi
• Portuguese: colocar (pt) o cinto de segurança, colocar o cinto
• Spanish: abrochar (es) el cinturón (pronominal)
• Swedish: spänna fast sig, använda/fästa säkerhetsbälte (sv) n
• Turkish: emniyet kemerini bağlamak

See also

• buckle down