punched up; punching up; punches up
: to give energy or forcefulness to
jokes added to punch up a speech
Examples of punch-up in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 4 Jan. 2025
Toward the end there’s a punch-up, with several players involved.
—David Szalay, The New Yorker, 1 Dec. 2024
Cameron Beall, Southern Living, 26 Apr. 2025
The Southern California band put it all to great use at the 13th Floor after midnight, punching up their left-of-center soft-rock songs with all kinds of unexpected twists — flashes of dissonance here, a harmonica solo there.
—Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rolling Stone, 12 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for punch-up
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Noun
Often, when shows do crossovers, the writers on one will do punch-up for their characters on the other.
—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 4 Jan. 2025
Toward the end there’s a punch-up, with several players involved.
—David Szalay, The New Yorker, 1 Dec. 2024
Verb
Brewed coffee punches up the cocoa in the cake while coffee liqueur infuses the glaze with equally rich flavor.
—Cameron Beall, Southern Living, 26 Apr. 2025
The Southern California band put it all to great use at the 13th Floor after midnight, punching up their left-of-center soft-rock songs with all kinds of unexpected twists — flashes of dissonance here, a harmonica solo there.
—Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rolling Stone, 12 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for punch-up
Cite this Entry
“Punch-up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/punch-up. Accessed 16 May. 2025.
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