First recorded in 1890–95; noun use of verb phrase slow up
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Dorothy Lamour was refused entrance to the Glenn L. Martin plane plant at Middle River, Md., on the ground that a slow-up for ogling and neck-craning "might cost us half a bomber."
From Time Magazine Archive
Yet many of the key statistics that economists have used for years to measure the economy's health indicate that it is on the edge of a slow-up.
From Time Magazine Archive
Like other manufacturers, Chrysler will go into M-4 production without slow-up.
From Time Magazine Archive
But there were no signs of a slow-up in buying by well-heeled consumers.
From Time Magazine Archive
Perhaps he planned a gradual slow-up to block the flying section gently; perhaps he did not realize how fast the runaway was coming.
From Careers of Danger and Daring by Moffett, Cleveland
The field will look to hunt down Ewing over the weekend, but it will need her to slow up.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 11, 2023
A long-distance lorry driver, he said he had no option but to pay privately or "sit and do nothing, vegetate and slow up".
From BBC ● Mar. 23, 2023
Bond yields slumped on Wednesday to multi-month lows, but rather than moving higher on expectations the Fed will slow up on its policy tightening, this time Wall Street slumped into the red.
From Reuters ● Jan. 18, 2023
Money began to slow up, so the whole spoiled thing went away.
From Salon ● Nov. 22, 2020
A horse was clomping slow up the road and whoever was riding it was singing.
From "The Journey of Little Charlie" by Christopher Paul Curtis
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.
