tear up

See also: tear-up

English

Etymology 1

See: tear (“to rip, shred”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtɛəɹ ˈʌp/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtɛəɹ ˈʌp/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

tear up (third-person singular simple present tears up, present participle tearing up, simple past tore up, past participle torn up)

1. (transitive) To tear into pieces.

   The student tore up his test after he found out his mark of 20%.

2. (transitive, figurative) To cancel or annul, or to cause the cancellation or annulment of (e.g. an agreement or contract).

   I finally persuaded the landlord to tear up the lease and move to a month-by-month rental.

3. (transitive, idiomatic) To damage.

   The lacrosse practice really tore up the field.

   • 1994, Virginia Satir, James Stachowiak, Harvey A. Taschman, Helping Families to Change, →ISBN, page 243:

     You talk about the same thing but from different points of view. He is saying, "Didn't hurt the car much." You're saying "He's tearing up the car and we're having to make payments on it."

   • 2012, Scotty Rae Hettinger, 5/22: Stories of Survival, Stories of Faith, →ISBN, page 231:

     We were making a joke about him not tearing it up; because the first person that puts a dent in it is going to get in trouble.

4. (transitive, idiomatic) To succeed dramatically in (an area of endeavor) or against.

   In his first year, his hitting tore up the league's opposing pitchers.

   • 2012 May 15, Scott Tobias, “Film: Reviews: The Dictator”, in The Onion AV Club‎^[1]:

     Taking advantage of her haughty obliviousness—Faris is every bit Margaret Dumont to Baron Cohen’s Groucho—Aladeen conspires to seize power back and tear up the new constitution before it’s too late.

5. (transitive) To wrench out of the ground.

   We tore up the weeds from the allotment.

   • 1941 October, “Notes and News: The Lee Moor Tramway”, in Railway Magazine, page 470:

     There was another incline on this section, but it has not been in use for very many years, and some of the rails are torn up, and the rest very overgrown.

6. (transitive, slang, vulgar) To have intense penetrative sex with.

   Chad tore up Stacy after that party.

7. (transitive, slang) To brutally assault.

   Jason tore up Todd after finding out that he was having sex with his sister.

Derived terms

• tear up the dance floor
• tear up the pea patch

 

Translations

To tear into pieces.

• Bulgarian: разкъсвам (bg) (razkǎsvam)

To damage — see damage

To succeed dramatically in (an area of endeavor) or against.

To wrench out of the ground.

• Bulgarian: изскубвам (bg) (izskubvam)

To have intense sex with.

To brutally assault.

See also

• tear it up

Etymology 2

See: tear (“liquid that falls from the eyes”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtɪɹ ˈʌp/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtɪəɹ ˈʌp/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Verb

tear up (third-person singular simple present tears up, present participle tearing up, simple past and past participle teared up)

1. (intransitive) To start shedding tears.

   After seeing Johnny tear up at that cheesy movie, I knew he was a loser.

See also

• choke up
• well up

Anagrams

• Puerta, uprate, uptear