bang-up

[ bang-uhp ]

See synonyms for bang-up on Thesaurus.com

adjectiveInformal.

excellent; extraordinary.

Origin of bang-up

First recorded in 1800–10; adj. use of verb phrase bang up

Words Nearby bang-up

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use bang-up in a sentence

SB Nation and their Swish Appeal site do a pretty bang-up job, as well.
Women's Sports Are Getting Less Airtime | Evelyn Shoop | August 23, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Yes, if only he had gone to Harvard or Yale like our last four presidents, who have done such a bang-up job running the country.
The Sickening Snowden Backlash | Kirsten Powers | June 14, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
After all, the House GOP did a bang-up job of controlling spending when they had unified control of Washington, just a decade ago.
Sequester Misfire: Eric Cantor’s World of Warcraft Nonsense | John Avlon | February 25, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
But of course no visit to Hollywood would be complete without a bang-up, star-studded gala.
Kate & Will’s Starry Night | Isabel Wilkinson | July 10, 2011 | THE DAILY BEAST
Miss Boutts replied that they were too busy in the daytime, but were asked once a week to a "bang-up" affair.
Ancestors | Gertrude Atherton

One day Doctor Kirby and me was walking along the main street of a little town and we seen a bang-up funeral percession coming.
Danny's Own Story | Don Marquis
Now, up in Kansas City we goes to a sumptious layout, pays less an' gets bang-up stuff.
Hopalong Cassidy's Rustler Round-Up | Clarence Edward Mulford
As in England, we will be bang up against an industrial awakening that will mark an epoch.
The War After the War | Isaac Frederick Marcosson
Editor DeWitt took it for granted she would bring in a bang-up story when she returned to the newspaper office.
Whispering Walls | Mildred A. Wirt

British Dictionary definitions for bang up

bang up

verb

(tr, adverb) prison slang to lock up (a prisoner) in his or her cell, esp for the night

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with bang-up

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.

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