Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

sell up

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.96 in modern English

Syllables: sel-l- up
IPA

8

Scrabble Score

6

Letters

3

Syllables

5

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To sell one's business or other major asset (such as a home).

Intransitive verb

verb

To sell all (of the assets of a company or person), in order to reduce its debts or gain liquid money.

British usage; Transitive verb

verb

Example Sentences

"[…] he was never known to give away a shilling or to do a good action, but was of a pleasant, sly, laughing mood, and would cut his joke and drink his glass with a tenant and sell him up the next day […]"
"DCI Tom Barnaby: Oh, right. There was one more tiny thing. Your little problem up north when you were fined... How did you raise the money? Ken Beavers: Sold up. Everything. House, car, the flat in Spain."
"Attracting consumers with a low-priced feature item and then pointing out weaknesses in order to sell up to a more expensive […]"
"He was not going to have salesman ^([sic]) sell up to a more expensive and more profitable car that was no better than his Ford."

Usage

Inflected Forms

sells up (present, singular) selling up (participle, present) sold up (participle, past) sold up (past)

Phrases

sell-up sell down

Frequently Paired Words

sell down close up close down sell off

Synonyms

sell out liquidize

Questions

What does sell up mean?: To sell one's business or other major asset (such as a home).

How to pronounce sell up

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “sell up”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
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Repeat and practice — Say “sell up” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.