"well up" meaning in English

See well up in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

Forms: more well up [comparative], most well up [superlative]
Head templates: {{en-adj}} well up (comparative more well up, superlative most well up)
  1. (colloquial) Well versed; well acquainted (in or on). Tags: colloquial
    Sense id: en-well_up-en-adj-SWZJ8QY8
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 2

Verb

Forms: wells up [present, singular, third-person], welling up [participle, present], welled up [participle, past], welled up [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|*}} well up (third-person singular simple present wells up, present participle welling up, simple past and past participle welled up)
  1. (intransitive) To gradually or steadily flow upwards or outwards so as to begin to fill or overflow something. Tags: intransitive Translations (to flow upwards or outwards): opwellen (Dutch), pursuta (Finnish), pulputa (Finnish), kummuta (Finnish), hervorquellen (German), sgorgare a fiotti (Italian), whakapuke (Maori), whakapupuke (Maori), شیشمك (şişmek) (Ottoman Turkish), قبارمق (kabarmak) (Ottoman Turkish), välla (Swedish), välla fram (Swedish), välla ut (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-well_up-en-verb-Of9KWvHZ Categories (other): English phrasal verbs with particle (up) Disambiguation of English phrasal verbs with particle (up): 59 41 Disambiguation of 'to flow upwards or outwards': 97 3
  2. (figurative, by extension, chiefly of an emotion) To accumulate within one, to the point of overwhelming one. Tags: broadly, figuratively, of an emotion Translations ((of an emotion) to accumulate, to the point of overwhelming): kummuta (Finnish), salire in petto (Italian), kōmanawa (Maori)
    Sense id: en-well_up-en-verb-n3zKzNDJ Disambiguation of '(of an emotion) to accumulate, to the point of overwhelming': 1 99
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 1

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for well up meaning in English (4.8kB)

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  "forms": [
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      "form": "wells up",
      "tags": [
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    {
      "form": "welling up",
      "tags": [
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    {
      "form": "welled up",
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        {
          "text": "Oil was welling up out of the borehole.",
          "type": "example"
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        {
          "text": "As soon as I heard news of his death, tears started to well up in my eyes.",
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        "To gradually or steadily flow upwards or outwards so as to begin to fill or overflow something."
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        "(intransitive) To gradually or steadily flow upwards or outwards so as to begin to fill or overflow something."
      ],
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        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "to flow upwards or outwards",
          "word": "opwellen"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to flow upwards or outwards",
          "word": "pursuta"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to flow upwards or outwards",
          "word": "pulputa"
        },
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          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "fi",
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          "sense": "to flow upwards or outwards",
          "word": "kummuta"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "to flow upwards or outwards",
          "word": "hervorquellen"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "to flow upwards or outwards",
          "word": "sgorgare a fiotti"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "mi",
          "lang": "Maori",
          "sense": "to flow upwards or outwards",
          "word": "whakapuke"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "mi",
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          "sense": "to flow upwards or outwards",
          "word": "whakapupuke"
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          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "ota",
          "lang": "Ottoman Turkish",
          "roman": "şişmek",
          "sense": "to flow upwards or outwards",
          "word": "شیشمك"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "ota",
          "lang": "Ottoman Turkish",
          "roman": "kabarmak",
          "sense": "to flow upwards or outwards",
          "word": "قبارمق"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "to flow upwards or outwards",
          "word": "välla"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "to flow upwards or outwards",
          "word": "välla fram"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "to flow upwards or outwards",
          "word": "välla ut"
        }
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        "(figurative, by extension, chiefly of an emotion) To accumulate within one, to the point of overwhelming one."
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          "sense": "(of an emotion) to accumulate, to the point of overwhelming",
          "word": "kummuta"
        },
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          "_dis1": "1 99",
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "(of an emotion) to accumulate, to the point of overwhelming",
          "word": "salire in petto"
        },
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          "_dis1": "1 99",
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          "sense": "(of an emotion) to accumulate, to the point of overwhelming",
          "word": "kōmanawa"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "well up"
}

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        "(colloquial) Well versed; well acquainted (in or on)."
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          "overflow",
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        "(intransitive) To gradually or steadily flow upwards or outwards so as to begin to fill or overflow something."
      ],
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        "(figurative, by extension, chiefly of an emotion) To accumulate within one, to the point of overwhelming one."
      ],
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    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "to flow upwards or outwards",
      "word": "opwellen"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to flow upwards or outwards",
      "word": "pursuta"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to flow upwards or outwards",
      "word": "pulputa"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to flow upwards or outwards",
      "word": "kummuta"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to flow upwards or outwards",
      "word": "hervorquellen"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "to flow upwards or outwards",
      "word": "sgorgare a fiotti"
    },
    {
      "code": "mi",
      "lang": "Maori",
      "sense": "to flow upwards or outwards",
      "word": "whakapuke"
    },
    {
      "code": "mi",
      "lang": "Maori",
      "sense": "to flow upwards or outwards",
      "word": "whakapupuke"
    },
    {
      "code": "ota",
      "lang": "Ottoman Turkish",
      "roman": "şişmek",
      "sense": "to flow upwards or outwards",
      "word": "شیشمك"
    },
    {
      "code": "ota",
      "lang": "Ottoman Turkish",
      "roman": "kabarmak",
      "sense": "to flow upwards or outwards",
      "word": "قبارمق"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "to flow upwards or outwards",
      "word": "välla"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "to flow upwards or outwards",
      "word": "välla fram"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "to flow upwards or outwards",
      "word": "välla ut"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "(of an emotion) to accumulate, to the point of overwhelming",
      "word": "kummuta"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "(of an emotion) to accumulate, to the point of overwhelming",
      "word": "salire in petto"
    },
    {
      "code": "mi",
      "lang": "Maori",
      "sense": "(of an emotion) to accumulate, to the point of overwhelming",
      "word": "kōmanawa"
    }
  ],
  "word": "well up"
}

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          "Well versed",
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        "(colloquial) Well versed; well acquainted (in or on)."
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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-13 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-01 using wiktextract (ee658f9 and be4df6b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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