scare up

Idioms  

1. Also,. Assemble or produce with considerable effort, as in We managed to scare up extra chairs for the unexpectedly large audience, or He managed to scrape together enough cash to buy two more tickets. The first term alludes to scare in the sense of “flush game out of cover” and dates from the mid-1800s; the variant, alluding to scratching or clawing for something, was first recorded in 1549. Also see scrape up an acquaintance.

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Example Sentences

Which is why I have no doubt that, even as we speak, Jerry Dipoto and Justin Hollander are burning the phone and text lines to see what sort of deal they can scare up.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 27, 2023

Canyon de Chelly I used to take part in the gold rush of pilot season, when all the Canadian actors would flock down to Los Angeles to try to scare up some work.

From New York Times • Apr. 5, 2022

Horror movies “Antlers” and “Last Night in Soho” opened nationwide and struggled to scare up strong ticket sales, leaving last weekend’s champion “Dune” to rule over box office charts again.

From Reuters • Nov. 1, 2021

There, he managed to scare up some chow, but it was pancakes again, “which disappointed me very much,” he wrote.

From Washington Post • Sep. 1, 2020

Maybe he could scare up a little easy work for Johnny’s kids to do after school.

From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith

Related Words

• acquire
• bring in
• collect
• derive
• draw
• gain
• get
• make
• obtain
• pick up
• realize
• reap
• receive
• score
• secure
• win