sew up
Britishverb
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to fasten or mend completely by sewing
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to acquire sole use or control of
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informal to complete or negotiate successfully
to sew up a deal
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Complete successfully, as in Our team has sewn up the championship . [ Colloquial ; c. 1900]
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Gain complete control of, monopolize, as in Our restaurant hopes to sew up the town's takeout business . [ Colloquial ; first half of 1900s]
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.
Others simply mocked the assertion that a new ballroom would sew up the president’s apparent security concerns.
From Salon • May 1, 2026
Big players aim to sew up longer-term relationships with bundled policies, to be less vulnerable to pure price-shopping.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 8, 2025
Burns can still sew up a talented cast, which likely speaks to the appeal of any project these days with a semblance of recognizable adult humanity bubbling inside.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 21, 2025
In the past week, it helped them all but sew up the franchise’s first playoff spot.
From Seattle Times • Mar. 26, 2023
“I always do. You ought to sew up the ends of these. You need a sailmaker’s needle.”
From "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage" by Philip Pullman
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.
