double up

Verb

double up (third-person singular simple present doubles up, present participle doubling up, simple past and past participle doubled up)

1. (transitive) To double the quantity, amount or duration of something
   • I'm going to double up my enlistment.
2. (broadly, intransitive) To double one's amount of chips by winning an all-in pot.
3. (intransitive) To bend, bend over; to fold; to stoop.
   • Near-synonym: double over
   • 'It is well, then, that we should be frank,' said the other. 'We both think more than we have said; let us make a clean breast. This masked figure that you saw, did you recognise it?' / 'Well, sir, it went so quick, and the creature was so doubled up, that I could hardly swear to that,' was the...1886 January 5, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Last Night”, in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 78

   Synonyms:

   double over

4. (transitive) To cause (someone) to bend over; to beat up (someone).
   • I doubled him up with a swift punch to the stomach.
5. (intransitive) To have a secondary use.
   • This unfolding sofa doubles up as a bed.
   • A little fearfully now, Pollyanna felt her way to these bags, selected a nice fat soft one (it contained Miss Polly's sealskin coat) for a bed; and a thinner one to be doubled up for a pillow, and still another (which was so thin it seemed almost empty) for a covering.1913, Eleanor H. Porter, chapter 7, in Pollyanna, L.C. Page, →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   double

6. (transitive) To get the second out in a double play, typically referring to getting an out by beating a runner back to a base (often by throwing) after a fly ball has been caught
   • Jones snared the liner and then stepped on the bag to double up the runner.
7. (intransitive) To employ double the usual resources for a particular purpose; to work in pairs.
   • Tactically smart, Leeds' work-rate was also admirable, their players often doubling up on Everton's main threats like Marouane Fellaini, while Victor Anichibe found he had unwelcome, unstinting company throughout.2012 September 23, Ben Smith, “Leeds United 2-1 Everton”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 23 Jan 2025
8. (intransitive, slang) To marry or live with someone; to share a living space.