bang-up

American

[bang-uhp] / ˈbæŋˌʌp /

adjective

Informal.

excellent; extraordinary.

bang up British

verb

slang:prison (tr, adverb) 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

bang up Idioms

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.

Etymology

Origin of bang-up

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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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 • Jun. 9, 2025

The Old Prioress, who precedes Lidoine as the order’s Mother Superior, comes to a grisly end early in the opera, with a bang-up death scene that some singers approach with Meryl Streep-like meticulousness.

From New York Times • Jan. 16, 2023

The important thing for Meadows, like Trump, is fame maintenance, and he’s doing a bang-up job at it.

From Slate • Apr. 16, 2022

For a long time, masks and social distancing did a bang-up job of protecting us.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 7, 2022

“Well, you were doing a bang-up job of it,” she said.

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023