warmer-upper

[ wawr-mer-uhp-er ]

/ ˈwɔr mərˈʌp ər /

Save This Word!

noun Informal.

something that provides one with invigorating warmth: Hot soup is a good warmer-upper after skiing.

something that serves to warm up an audience or group of participants before a main event: Radio stations played martial music as a warmer-upper before the prime minister's speech.

QUIZ

WILL YOU SAIL OR STUMBLE ON THESE GRAMMAR QUESTIONS?

Smoothly step over to these common grammar mistakes that trip many people up. Good luck!

Question 1 of 7

Fill in the blank: I can’t figure out _____ gave me this gift.

who

whom

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of warmer-upper

1940–45; warm up + -er¹, applied pleonastically to both v. and particle

Words nearby warmer-upper

warm-blooded animals, warm-down, warmed-over, warmed-up, war memorial, warmer-upper, warm front, warm heart, warm-hearted, warming pan, warminster broom

How to use warmer-upper in a sentence

Kanye refuses to stomach any rejection, no matter how upper crust.
Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s Balmain Campaign: High Fashion Meets Low Culture|Amy Zimmerman|December 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
If only Sulzberger had managed to keep a zipped upper lip while leaving the dirty work to anonymous underlings.
The Bloodiest Media Coups of 2014|Lloyd Grove|December 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
White, upper-middle-class, Ivy-League educated white men, however Great they are, are falling out of power.
A Few Great Men Too Many: Aaron Sorkin Doesn’t Think You Can Handle the Truth|Arthur Chu|December 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
As the Cold War entered its final years, the film enjoyed a warmer reception in Russia.
When Countries Lose Their Shit Over American Movies|Asawin Suebsaeng|December 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST

When I came to New York after college I was taken with the world of Jewish intellectuals and the Upper West Side.
Meghan Daum On Tackling The Unspeakable Parts Of Life|David Yaffe|December 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST
“Perhaps you do not speak my language,” she said in Urdu, the tongue most frequently heard in Upper India.
The Red Year|Louis Tracy
On the upper part of the stem the whorls are very close together, but they are more widely separated at the lower portion.
How to Know the Ferns|S. Leonard Bastin
It is to be remembered, however, that a few of these bacteria may reach the sputum from the upper air-passages.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
The upper part of the stem is usually unbranched, but whorls of branches occur towards the base.
How to Know the Ferns|S. Leonard Bastin
The eyebrows were low and thick, the upper lip was sensitive, quivering sometimes as she talked, but the lower was firm and full.
Ancestors|Gertrude Atherton