give it some welly

Verb

give it some welly (third-person singular simple present gives it some welly, present participle giving it some welly, simple past gave it some welly, past participle given it some welly)

1. (UK, slang) To increase fuel or power to an engine, as to a car by depressing the gas pedal.
   • Believe me, if you give it a little welly down a twisty B-road this car feels pretty entertaining2000, Autocar, page 63
   • Having put the engineer at ease, I think, it was time to give the car some welly and I was amazed how effortlessly it rocketed up to, er, high speeds, then lost speed almost as rapidly when the powerful brakes came into use.2007, David Dixon, Richard Noble, “Tom Walkinshaw's Le Mans Effort”, in Watts My Line?: The Life and Work of Editorial Artist, Lawrie Watts, page 72
2. (UK, idiomatic, slang) To apply great physical effort to (something).
   • First they always obey the golden rule ‘Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might’ (Ecclesiastes 9:19), which translates as ‘always give it some welly’.2008, Mark Salter, Trevor Turner, Community Mental Health Care: A Practical Guide to Outdoor Psychiatry
   • I was then given the floor and had already determined that an impassioned rather than a measured delivery was what the occasion called for and as these opportunities do not present themselves very often I thought I would give it some welly.2008, Ben Barnes, Plays and Controversies: Abbey Theatre Diaries 2000-2005, page 40