limber up

present singular third person limbers up · participle present limbering up · participle past limbered up · past limbered up

1. intransitiveTo stretch one's muscles to make them more limber, usually as a preparation for physical exercise.

   The swimmer limbered up for a few minutes before the final.

2. transitiveTo make (someone or something) more limber or flexible.

   You need to limber up your wits before the exam.

   1 more example

   A good massage will limber up the neck and arms.

3. figurativelyintransitiveTo prepare; to make oneself ready.

   1 more example

   As politicians limber up for European elections in the summer of 2019, the biggest party grouping in the European parliament, the European People’s party, is desperately clinging on to Orbán’s Fidesz party, and has even been making furtive overtures to Poland’s PiS, for fear of the Orbvini camp forming a new alliance to compete with it.

   2018 July 9, Timothy Garton Ash, “Liberal Europe isn’t dead yet. But its defenders face a long, hard struggle”, in The Guardian

4. To attach a limber.