ring up
Britishverb
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to make a telephone call (to)
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(tr) to record on a cash register
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(tr) to chronicle; record
to ring up another success
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to begin a theatrical performance
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(often foll by on) to make a start (on)
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Record, especially by means of a cash register, as in They had already rung up the sale so I decided not to get the extra items . [c. 1930] Although older cash registers usually signaled a recorded sale with the ringing of a bell, the idiom survives in the age of computers.
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Accomplish, achieve, as in They rang up an impressive string of victories .
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.
Doris stopped by the store a few days a week to sweep, restock the shelves and ring up customers.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 4, 2026
I used to ring up people like Alex Ferguson and Mick McCarthy and I remember Mick asking how it was going.
From BBC • Mar. 20, 2024
Merchants hurried to ring up purchases and shuttered storefronts.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 4, 2024
So are snack packs with dips, yogurt cups, canned sodas and juices, which are incredibly messy for cashiers to ring up once opened.
From Salon • Sep. 20, 2023
“Look, your aunt never wanted to marry this guy,” I said as Blanca held the ring up to the light.
From "Bodega Dreams" by Ernesto Quinonez
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.
