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

See Examples For:

scare up

Soaring candy prices have many Americans looking to scare up some extra value during what has been an already expensive year.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 30, 2026

If all of a sudden Twitter isn’t just Twitter, but X, the future state of interconnectivity or whatever, maybe he can scare up enough cash to keep the lights on.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2023

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

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

Despite all of the evidence presented at our hearing showing that Walter had nothing to do with the Pittman murder, the local press invoked the case to scare up more fear about Walter.

From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson

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Related Words

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

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