mix it up

present singular third person mixes it up · participle present mixing it up · participle past mixed it up · past mixed it up

1. idiomaticTo compete vigorously, to quarrel, or to fight physically.

   He would have felt like an irate ticket-holder at a prize-fight where the principals refused to mix it up.

   1920, F. Scott Fitzgerald, chapter 2, in This Side of Paradise

2. To engage with people, relate to people; to enjoy oneself with others.

   And Carl hasn't really been mixing it up with the fans.

   1933, Robert Collins, The Convention

   2 more examples

   Q. What is her impact right now on the Republican Party, and does it bother you? A. She's a star. Why--it doesn't bother me. I mean, she is out there mixing it up, she's conveying her views, she's animating people to come forward and participate in the political process.

   2010 Meet the Press interview with Colin Powell, speaking of Sarah Palin

   This one's more business. You don't have the time to travel. You don't have the time to, ah, mix it up.

   2015 BBC interview by Jon Sopel with Barack Obama, 24 July. Answer to a question about his trip to Kenya

3. To create one or more variations of the usual way in which something is done.

   Indeed, why not try mixing it up even more by adding a completely different deer vocalization to the mix, or maybe more, to make the woods come alive with the sounds that deer make?

   2002, Kathy Etling, The Art of Whitetail Deception, →ISBN, page 95