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bang up

[bang-uhp] Origin

bang-up

[bang-uhp]
adjective Informal.
excellent; extraordinary.

Origin:
1800–10; adj. use of verb phrase bang up

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Bang up is always a great word to know.
So is slumgullion. Does it mean:
a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.
a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.
Dictionary.com Unabridged

bang

1[bang]
noun
1.
a loud, sudden, explosive noise, as the discharge of a gun.
2.
a resounding stroke or blow: a nasty bang on the head.
3.
Informal. a sudden movement or show of energy: He started with a bang.
4.
energy; vitality; spirit: The bang has gone out of my work.
5.
Informal. sudden or intense pleasure; thrill; excitement: a big bang out of seeing movies.
EXPAND
6.
Slang: Vulgar. sexual intercourse.
7.
Printing and Computer Slang. an exclamation point.
COLLAPSE
verb (used with object)
8.
to strike or beat resoundingly; pound: to bang a door.
9.
to hit or bump painfully: to bang one's ankle on a chair leg.
10.
to throw or set down roughly; slam: He banged the plates on the table.
11.
Slang: Vulgar. to have sexual intercourse with.
verb (used without object)
12.
to strike violently or noisily: to bang on the door.
13.
to make a loud, sudden, explosive noise like that of a violent blow: The guns banged all night.
14.
Slang: Vulgar. to have sexual intercourse.
adverb
15.
suddenly and loudly; abruptly or violently: She fell bang against the wall.
16.
directly; precisely; right: He stood bang in the middle of the flower bed.
17.
bang into, to collide with; bump into: The truck skidded on the ice and banged into a parked car.
18.
bang up, to damage: A passing car banged up our fender.
19.
bang off, Chiefly British Slang. immediately; right away.
20.
bang on, Chiefly British Slang. terrific; marvelous; just right: That hat is absolutely bang on.

Origin:
1540–50; 1930–35 for def. 5; compare Old Norse banga to beat, hammer, Low German bangen to strike, beat, German dialect banken; perhaps orig. imitative


2. smack, clout, box, wallop, sock, bash, cuff.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To bang up
Collins
World English Dictionary
bang up
 
vb
prison slang (tr, adverb) to lock up (a prisoner) in his or her cell, esp for the night

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

bang
1540s, "to strike hard with a loud blow," from O.N. banga "to pound, hammer" of echoic origin. Slang meaning "have sexual intercourse with" first recorded 1937. Bang-up "excellent, first-rate," 1820, probably shortened from phrase bang up to the mark.
EXPAND
"This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper"

[T.S. Eliot, "Hollow Men," 1925]
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

Bang (bāng, bäng), Bernhard Lauritz Frederik. 1848-1932.

Danish veterinarian who discovered Brucella abortus, the agent of brucellosis in cattle and of undulant fever in humans.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Cite This Source
Slang Dictionary

bang definition


  1. n.
    a bit of excitement; a thrill; some amusement. : We got a bang out of your letter.
  2. n.
    the degree of potency of the alcohol in liquor. : This stuff has quite a bang!
  3. n.
    an injection of a drug; any dose of a drug. (Drugs.) : If Albert doesn't have a bang by noon, he gets desperate.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source

bang-up definition


  1. mod.
    really excellent. : I like to throw a bang-up party once or twice a year.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases

bang up

Damage, injure, as in Banging up the car a second time will make Dad very unhappy, or Mother fell down the stairs and was all banged up. The verb to bang alone had this meaning from the 1500s on, up being added in the late 1800s. In the early 1800s it gave rise to the colloquial adjective bang-up, for excellent or very successful, as in David did a bang-up job baking the birthday cake.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
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