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coop up

/kup əp/
IPA guide

Other forms: coops up

Coop up means to confine or constrain, the way you coop up your new puppy in the kitchen during the day so he won't chew up all the shoes in the house.

This verb, which comes from coop, "poultry cage," is good for describing times you feel as cramped or restricted as a chicken in a cage. The rain during your vacation may coop you up in a tiny beach house all day with your family, for example. It's even more common to use the adjective cooped up for such constricted situations: "Come downstairs for dinner — you've been cooped up in your room all day!"

Definitions of coop up
  1. verb
    confine in or as if in a coop
    synonyms: coop in
    see moresee less
    type of:
    confine
    prevent from leaving or from being removed
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