tear up

1 phrasal verbphr v

a) TEARto tear a piece of paper or cloth into small pieces 把〔纸或布〕撕碎 SYN rip up

She tore up his letter and threw it away.

她把他的信撕碎扔掉了。

b) DESTROYto remove something from the ground by pulling or pushing it violently 〔猛地〕拔起，推倒〔某物〕

the remains of trees that had been torn up by the storm

树木被狂风刮倒后留下的残桩

c) REJECT/NOT ACCEPT tear up an agreement/contract etc to say that you no longer accept an agreement or contract 撕毁协议/合同等

threats to tear up the peace agreement

要撕毁和平协议的威胁

nd) tear it up informal

i. to have fun in an extreme way

ii. to do something, for example play music or dance, very well on a particular occasion

Examples from the Corpus

tear up• I could feel my own tears welling up.• I still think it was them questions that tore Sixo up.• My immediate wish was to tear it up.• The tears had dried up a little.• A tear sprang up in his eye and meandered across his cheek.• He couldn't speak, and, to his horror, he felt tears welling up in his throat.• Why not tear them up like everyone else and contribute to the litter found on every bookie's floor?• She started to tear them up, slowly, deliberately.

→ tear something ↔ up at tear2(PHRASAL VERB)

2 n phrasal verbphr v if you are tearing up, you are starting to have tears in your eyes because you feel very sad, happy etc

As she waved her mother goodbye, she found herself tearing up.

→ tear up at tear4(1)

tear upChinese