pack up

present singular third person packs up · participle present packing up · participle past packed up · past packed up

1. To give in; to give up; to leave in defeat.

   Our last batter just struck out. Time to pack it up, boys.

2. To clear away and place into storage.
3. To put back together.
4. To move one’s residence.

   After 5 months in Madrid, I've decided it is time to pack up.

5. To prepare for shipping, as a gift.

   Pack up the crates.

   1 more example

   Ashley: You're Dr. Warren, the one in charge of the excavation. Do you know what happened to the beacon? Dr. Warren: It was moved to the spaceport this morning. Manuel and I stayed behind to help pack up the camp.

   2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Eden Prime

6. To put into bags to prepare to move.

   Julie DeLongpre: Is there anything I can do to help? Allen Gregory DeLongpre: Well, I guess maybe you could pack up your belongings- Julie: All right. And go back to wherever the hell you came from. Does that make sense? So, it does make sense? No?

   2011 Allen Gregory, "Pilot" (season 1, episode 1)

7. informalTo break, to cease to function.

   The shop was driven by a hiccoughy old gas engine which sometimes packed up, to the great delight of all the juveniles.

   1944 September and October, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—I”, in Railway Magazine, page 283

   2 more examples

   Sitting mute, I watched the faint line of smoke fade into oblivion, and with it went the hopes of this CQ Contest... The Receiver power trannie had packed up.

   1968, CQ; the Radio Amateur's Journal, volume 24, numbers 7-12, page 52

   If I were asked which l'd rather be in, a single-engine Comanche or its double-breasted brother, at night after an engine packed up at 6,000 feet, I'd have to quickly choose the Twin Comanche.

   1971, Flying Magazine, August 1971

8. intransitivetransitiveTo fill a pipe with cannabis for smoking.

   The bong is already packed up.

   1 more example

   Ralph, it's your turn to pack up the bowl.