1smarten something ↔ upphrasal verbphr v especially British EnglishBrE
a)SMART/WELL-DRESSED smarten yourself up to make yourself look neat and tidy 打扮得干净整齐
You’d better smarten yourself up.
你最好打扮得干净整齐。
b)TIDYto make something look neater 使〔某物〕整洁
We need to smarten the place up a bit.
我们需要把这地方整理一下。
c)smarten up your act/ideas to improve the way you behave or do something 改进自己的行为/让自己变得更高明
The company needs to smarten up their act if they are to keep customers.
这家公司若要留住客户,就需要学聪明一些。
Examples from the Corpus
smarten up• Andrew Lloyd-Webber's new wife, horsewoman Madeline Gurdon, has tried to smarten him up.• It's been compared with New York's notorious Bronx, but now the council plans to smarten it up.
smarten yourself up• Jeremy, go smarten yourself up before dinner.• She's smartening herself up in the ladies' room.• Smarten up! It's time for inspection.
smarten up your act/ideas• Despite the encouragingfigures, the Chunnel has promptedferry companies to smarten up their act, and offer better deals.
Examples from the Corpus
smarten• It's been compared with New York's notorious Bronx, but now the council plans to smarten it up.• On the other hand, more than a few civilians were sloppy and needed to smarten up a bit.• Rainwished he had some one to make sure he spent part of the proceeds on smartening up his flat.• The exterior of the whole building itself is also about to receive new cladding which will smarten up its slightly dilapidated appearance.• In the 1970s money just was not available to smarten up more than a handful of Provincialstations.• Despite the encouragingfigures, the Chunnel has promptedferry companies to smarten up their act, and offer better deals.• No attempts made to knuckle down and smarten up.