talk up

Verb

talk up (third-person singular simple present talks up, present participle talking up, simple past and past participle talked up)

1. (idiomatic, transitive) To talk about (something or someone) to make it seem as good as possible or to draw positive attention to it.
   • The restaurant had been talked up way too much, that it left me somewhat disappointed.
   • Charlie's been talking up Robbie in an attempt to set him up with Lucy.

   Synonyms:

   big up, promote

2. (idiomatic, intransitive) To talk louder.

   Synonyms:

   speak up

3. (intransitive) To speak in a plain and candid way, or with bold impudence.
   • “Look here, friend,” said I, “if you have anything important to tell us, out with it; but if you are only trying to bamboozle us, you are mistaken in your game; that’s all I have to say.”
     And it’s said very well, and I like to hear a chap talk up that way; you are just the man for him—the likes of...1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 19”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC