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• hopped-up
  hopped-up

  adjective

  excited; enthusiastic; exuberant, especially overexuberant.
• hopped up
  hopped up

  Relating to a motor, especially a car engine, whose power has been increased. For example, Kids loved to ride around in hopped-up cars . [ Slang ; mid-1900s] Also see soup up .

hopped-up

American  

[hopt-uhp] / ˈhɒptˈʌp /

adjective

Slang.

1. excited; enthusiastic; exuberant, especially overexuberant.

2. having an engine with added power.

   a hopped-up jalopy.

3. stimulated by narcotics; drugged; doped.

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hopped up Idioms  

1. Relating to a motor, especially a car engine, whose power has been increased. For example, Kids loved to ride around in hopped-up cars . [ Slang ; mid-1900s] Also see soup up .

2. Stimulated with, or as if with, a narcotic. For example, Their idea of a good time is to get all hopped up on marijuana or worse . This slangy usage dates from the 1920s but may be related to the late 19th-century use of the noun hop for a narcotic, especially opium.

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Usage

What does hopped-up mean? Hopped-up is an informal adjective that means extremely excited or enthusiastic about something, as in Dave is really hopped-up about getting the new gaming system. This sense of the word can imply a sense of overexcitement or frenzy. The terms hyped-up and hyped mean the same thing. Hopped-up is also used to describe someone who is in a state of stimulation, especially due to narcotics or other drugs. When used in this way, hopped-up is often followed by the word on and the drug or stimulating substance, as in Rock stars in the ’80s were notorious for being constantly hopped-up on cocaine. Though the word is most closely associated with hard drugs, it sometimes involves other stimulants, as in hopped-up on caffeine or After the party, the kids were hopped-up on sugar. Less commonly, hopped-up is used to describe a vehicle, especially a car, that has been modified in order to increase its power, especially its engine power (and therefore its ability to go faster). The term souped-up means the same thing and is probably more commonly used. The adjective hopped-up is sometimes seen without a hyphen. However, it’s usually best to spell it with a hyphen to avoid confusion in cases when the past tense verb hopped is followed by the word up, as in The cat hopped up on the table. The phrasal verb hop up can be used in all of the senses of the adjective hopped-up. It can mean to excite someone or to make something more exciting, as in Get out there and hop up the crowd. It can also mean to stimulate someone, such as with drugs or another stimulant, as in My mother-in-law loves to hop the kids up on sugar. In the context of cars, it can mean the same thing as soup up. Example: The kids were hopped-up all week in anticipation of their trip to the theme park.

Etymology

Origin of hopped-up

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hopped-up hopped up

The sampling of funk and glam rock classics momentarily distracts us from the nonsensical staging choices and hopped-up gags, but only for so long.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 29, 2026

He hit American pop like a fireball in the mid-1950s, a hopped-up emissary from cultures that mainstream America barely knew, drawing on the sacred and the profane, the spiritual and the carnal.

From New York Times ● May 10, 2020

But this time, instead of hopped-up teenagers hurling moralistic condemnation at mediocre TV shows, it was middle-aged men condemning a 220-page financial statement on Twitter, in real time.

From The Guardian ● Dec. 20, 2019

And the winner of the Lose Cannon: To "It Might As Well Be Spring" We're as hopped-up as a hive of harried hornets, We're searching for oppressors we can sting.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 5, 2019

Maybe there would be a place in the asteroids for a hopped-up superman.

From Anything You Can Do ... by Randall Garrett

Lately, brands have gotten all hopped up on sugar.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2025

"And then the weirdest, weirdest thing happened. She came across the bench and then she hopped up on to my lap," says Hannah.

From BBC ● May 25, 2024

The injury apparently happened pre-game Monday when Noda was taking pre-game infield and the ball hopped up and hit him.

From Washington Times ● Jul. 20, 2023

Coca-Cola began bottling its product that spring, so maybe hitters back then were hopped up on unprecedented amounts of sugar, caffeine and whatever else was included in Coke.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2023

All of a sudden Miss Love hopped up like she’d sat on a pin, plopped herself down on the piano stool, and went to playing chords.

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns