buck up

verb

bucked up; bucking up; bucks up

intransitive verb

: to become encouraged : brace up

transitive verb

1

: improve, smarten

2

: to raise the morale of

Synonyms

• brighten
• cheer (up)
• lighten
• look up
• perk (up)

Examples of buck up in a Sentence

buck up, kids, it's not so bad as you're making it out to be

a surprise presidential visit to buck up the troops

Recent Examples on the Web

But to do that, the Coast Guard needs to buck up, build, and then advocate for an aviation strategy that makes few, if any, compromises. —Craig Hooper, Forbes, 15 Dec. 2024

Getty Images Wall Street analysts predict that iPhone users will buck up for artificial intelligence in more ways than one. —Morgan Chittum, CNBC, 25 Nov. 2024

In Williamsport, the coach would probably just buck up his shortstop and tell him to get the next one. —Dan Freedman, Forbes, 1 Nov. 2024

But then, two days later and about a half-hour before Harris was set to deliver a masterful closing argument with the White House’s south front as her backdrop, Biden was trying to buck up Latino supporters in a call from the White House residence. —Philip Elliott, TIME, 31 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

buck entry 2

First Known Use

1844, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense