bang-up

[bang-uhp]

adjective

Informal.

1. excellent; extraordinary.

bang up

verb

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of bang up¹

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

Idioms and Phrases

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.

Example Sentences

Those same leaders have been doing a bang-up job dismantling the America I thought I was serving when I took that oath and put on second lieutenant’s bars four decades ago.

From Salon

Like many groups that weekend, they had equipment problems during the set, but resolved them with a bang-up 20-minute medley of “Everyday People” and “Dance to the Music.”

From Los Angeles Times

The good news is that Musk is doing a bang-up job helping people understand that Trump was never for the working man, as he has successfully tricked so many into thinking.

From Salon

If Newsom really hopes to be president someday, the best thing he could do is a bang-up job in his final 22 months as governor.

From Los Angeles Times

Both men are doing a bang-up job so far.

From Salon

Related Words

• batter 
• break 
• burn 
• contaminate 
• harm 
• hurt 
• impair 
• infect 
• injure 
• maim 
• mangle 
• mar 
• pollute 
• ravage 
• ruin 
• scorch 
• smash 
• tarnish 
• tear 
• undermine