SPEED UP

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does speed up mean? 

• SPEED UP (verb)
  The verb SPEED UP has 2 senses:

1. move faster

2. cause to move faster

  Familiarity information: SPEED UP used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SPEED UP (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Move faster

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

accelerate; quicken; speed; speed up

Context example:

The car accelerated

Hypernyms (to "speed up" is one way to...):

deepen; intensify (become more intense)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "speed up"):

brisk; brisk up; brisken (become brisk)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

These cars won't speed up

Derivation:

speedup (the act of accelerating; increasing the speed)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cause to move faster

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

accelerate; speed; speed up

Context example:

He accelerated the car

Hypernyms (to "speed up" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

speedup (the act of accelerating; increasing the speed)

 Context examples 

They are increasingly being designed and used to speed up laboratory test results, monitor health conditions, and diagnose and prevent disease.

(Brazilian researchers eye biosensors to monitor diabetes, SciDev.Net)

They will speed up your timetable and ask you to re-arrange plans.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Previous studies found that increased levels of the klotho protein can extend lifespan, whereas disruption of klotho can speed up aging.

(Longevity gene linked to better brain skills, NIH, US)

It can speed up a slow heart rhythm, control a fast heart rhythm, and coordinate the chambers of the heart.

(Pacemakers and Implantable Defibrillators, NIH)

When natural IELs are present, however, the researchers found that they limit the availability of a type of hormones, incretin GLP-1, that help speed up metabolism.

(Some gut cells slow down metabolism, accelerate cardiovascular disease, National Institutes of Health)

Neptune's dark vortices have exhibited surprising diversity over the years, in terms of size, shape, and stability (they meander in latitude, and sometimes speed up or slow down).

(Hubble Imagery Confirms New Dark Spot on Neptune, NASA)

The lag would act like a brake on Pluto, causing its rotation to slow while transferring that rotational energy to Charon, making it speed up and move farther away from Pluto.

(Cracks in Pluto's moon could indicate it once had an underground ocean, NASA)

Culturing could allow for screening of a large number of drugs to speed up identification of new treatments for Pneumocystis pneumonia, and potentially allow for genetic manipulation to modify individual genes and see what impact they have on organism growth and on its harmful impact to the host.

(Researchers sequence genome of a fungus that causes life-threatening pneumonia, NIH)

The technology is expected to speed up the process for developing new varieties of potatoes, rice, citrus and other crops that are better equipped to tolerate heat and drought, produce higher yields and resist a myriad of diseases and pests.

(Innovative Approach to Breeding Could Mean Higher Yields and Better Crops, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Its magnitude, and the fact that thinning of the ice shelf will speed up the flow of Antarctica's ice sheets into the ocean, means that increased melting of the shelf carries significant potential for sea level rise.

(Study in Antarctic waters reveals why Ross Ice Shelf melts in summer, National Science Foundation)