Word.ws English Dictionary

bring up

bring up verb: used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see bring, up: To bring from a lower to a higher position.

Verb

bring up (third-person singular simple present brings up, present participle bringing up, simple past and past participle brought up)

  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see bring, up: To bring from a lower to a higher position.
    • When you're in the basement, can you bring up the paints?
    • "[…]and as Mr. H., with his long purse and his willingness to receive hints, is no bad card in the game, he has been brought up to Abbotsford for a week; his taciturnity has long ago fled, and he is one of the most loquacious Borderers going. […]"1951 February, Michael Robbins, “Sir Walter Scott and Two Early Railway Schemes”, in Railway Magazine, page 90
  2. To mention.
    • Don't bring up politics if you want to have a quiet conversation with that guy.
  3. To raise or rear (children).
    • In the present writer's opinion there was no greater and more successful locomotive engineer in the country, during the first quarter-century, than George Jackson Churchward of the Great Western Railway. This statement is made without prejudice, for I was brought up on the other line extending from...1957 July, C. Hamilton Ellis, “Six Decades of Locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, page 471
    • ‘[…] I remember a lady coming to inspect St. Mary's Home where I was brought up and seeing us all in our lovely Elizabethan uniforms we were so proud of, and bursting into tears all over us because “it was wicked to dress us like charity children”.[…]’.1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 6, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC
  4. To uncover, to bring from obscurity; to resurface (e.g. a memory)
    • A short Internet search brought up some amazing details of this story.
    Synonyms:
    bring back
  5. To turn on power or start, as of a machine.
    • Wait a minute while I bring up my computer.
  6. To check (a newly-assembled printed circuit board) for errors.
    • Anyone who's been tasked with bringing up a board knows how trying it is.
  7. To vomit.
    • I was very ill today; I kept bringing up everything I ate.
  8. To stop or interrupt a flow or steady motion.
    • "[…]Mr. Wolfe, I beg you—I beg of you—"
      I was sure she was going to cry and I didn't want her to. But Wolfe brusquely brought her up:
      "That's all, Miss Barstow.[…]"1934, Rex Stout, Fer-de-Lance, Bantam, published 1992, →ISBN, page 91
    • "No," Maeniel shouted, "No!" trying to distract the man, and lunged toward him. The chain on his ankle brought him up short and he fell on his face.1999, Alice Borchardt, Night of the Wolf, Ballantine, →ISBN, page 260
  9. To reach a particular score, especially a milestone.
    • Warner smacked a four over midwicket to bring up his century.
  10. To legally charge and put on trial; to position (someone) for judgement or examination by authority.
    • The book [The Gilded Hearse] was brought up on obscenity charges, partly as a result of the gay content, but a New York magistrate dismissed the charges.2001, Susan Stryker, Queer Pulp, page 14
  11. (obsolete) To level type or make it ready for printing by overlaying it.
  12. (transitive) To prepare a vein for an injection.

bring up meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Telugu and Kannada

bring up in Tamil

bring from a lower to a higher position
தூக்கு tūkku
mention
எழுப்பு eḻuppu
raise or rear children
வளர் vaḷar

bring up in Urdu

پالنا, پالنا پوسنا, پرورش کرنا

bring up in Telugu

to bring up or produce
తేలించు tēliñcu

bring up in Kannada

ಪೋಷಿಸು, ಪಾಲಿಸು, ಬೆಳೆಸು
More languagesFewer languages
bring up in Odia
ପାଳିବା pāḷibā
bring up in Assamese
তোলা tüla
bring up in Nepali
पाल्नु pālnu, बनाउनु banāunu
bring up in Tagalog
maungkat, ungkatin
bring up in Persian
مطرح کردن matrah kardan
bring up in Thai
เลี้ยงดู líiang-duu, ฟูมฟัก fuum-fák
bring up in Vietnamese
nuôi nấng, nuôi

Synonyms of bring up

Forms of bring up

third-person singular presentbrings up
present participlebringing up
past participlebrought up
pastbrought up

Origin of bring up

From Middle English bryngen up, dissimilated from Middle English upbryngen (“to bring up, raise”). Doublet of upbring.

Questions about bring up

What does bring up mean?
Bring up means used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see bring, up: To bring from a lower to a higher position.
What is bring up in Tamil?
Bring up in Tamil is தூக்கு (tūkku), எழுப்பு (eḻuppu), வளர் (vaḷar). See Bring up meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is bring up?
Bring up is a verb.
What is the past tense of bring up?
The past tense of bring up is brought up.

Words near bring up in the dictionary

  1. bring to terms
  2. bring to the hammer
  3. bring to the table
  4. bring together
  5. bring under
  6. bring up
  7. bring up against
  8. bring up short
  9. bring up the rear
  10. bring up to
  11. bring upon

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bring up (page history and authors); bring up (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); తేలించు (Telugu) (page history and authors); bring up (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ପାଳିବା (Odia) (page history and authors); তোলা (Assamese) (page history and authors); पाल्नु (Nepali) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-bring up.wav.

Cite this entry: “bring up.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bring_up. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.