(usually foll by up) to move (an animal, esp a horse) ahead; urge on
(foll by up) to encourage (someone) to greater effort or activity
First recorded in 1620–30; origin uncertain
1890–95, euphemism for Jesus
First recorded in 1690–1700; origin uncertain
First recorded in 1935–40; spelling of the letter G, abbreviation for grand (in the sense “thousand dollars”)
First recorded in 1940–45; originally abbreviation for ground electronics engineering
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
So the Chancellor is trying to use this moment of a tangible cut to every household's energy bill as a launching pad for a wider attempt to gee up consumer and business confidence.
From BBC ● Feb. 25, 2026
"It was like they wanted to do something, but then really didn't put the effort into it and then said, gee, it didn't work," she told AFP.
From Barron's ● Jan. 31, 2026
“I would have been a lot better off if they didn’t, because the fact that I took it said, ‘Oh gee, is something wrong?’
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 1, 2026
“And then when the finance company says, ‘Oh, gee, sorry, we can’t actually get the loan on those terms, could you sign some worse terms?’
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 27, 2025
“Um, a mastic tree,” said one, and the other, “Well, gee, I guess it was a live oak.”
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
“Both sides seem to be operating in different planes of reality,” Gee said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
Gee, thanks—not much different than popping up after flopping on the soccer pitch.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
You can't talk about Desmond Armstrong without mention of Jimmy Banks - or "Gee" as Armstrong affectionately calls him.
From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2026
“That’s certainly what I try to do. … Why should we be thinking about, Gee, European countries don’t have this?”
From Slate ● Apr. 1, 2026
“You too? Gee, I wonder why,” she said with a sigh.
From "Here to Stay" by Sara Farizan
"It's about finding out what makes people tick, what motivates them. "People such as Ian Botham were good when you geed them up.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2015
"It's great credit to the managers down there who have really responded to the threat of relegation and geed their teams up. It's going to be a grandstand finish."
From BBC ● May 9, 2015
A giant owl mascot geed up the crowd.
From Reuters ● Mar. 24, 2014
He said he doesn't know he does it, and said: 'That's just the way I play and I have to shout to get myself geed up for a game.'
From The Guardian ● Mar. 23, 2011
He lifted Everilda in, and said 'Gee up!' to his patent carriage, and the intelligent creature geed up right into the air and flew away.
From Oswald Bastable and Others by Brock, C. E. (Charles Edmund)
Konstas was unruffled, smashing Bumrah for 18 in the next over and geeing up the crowd to keep up the noise, before reaching his fifty with two off Siraj.
From BBC ● Dec. 26, 2024
Eager to work on issues such as attention span, Williams turns guinea pig, submitting to magnetic brain stimulation to achieve better focus, geeing up creativity by means of electrodes over her prefrontal cortex, and more.
From Nature ● Jan. 24, 2017
The main value of celebrity campaigners is in geeing up the flagging activists who really get out the vote.
From Economist ● Apr. 23, 2015
What emotion he displayed was spent geeing up those around him, applauding Barkley’s dribble and ambitious attempt, or Luke Shaw’s energy down the left.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 24, 2014
The children were chatting gayly when a loud geeing was heard; and presently an ox-team was seen slowly approaching from the direction of the granite quarry.
From Bertie and the Gardeners or, The Way to be Happy by Leslie, Madeline
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
