well up

English

Etymology 1

Verb

well up (third-person singular simple present wells up, present participle welling up, simple past and past participle welled up)

1. (intransitive) To gradually or steadily flow upwards or outwards so as to begin to fill or overflow something.

   Oil was welling up out of the borehole.

   As soon as I heard news of his death, tears started to well up in my eyes.

   • 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 178:

     A spring wells up in the centre of the village, and watercress beds lie beside the stream running alongside the main street.

2. (figurative, by extension, chiefly of an emotion) To accumulate within one, to the point of overwhelming one.

   Emotion welled up inside me.

   • 2023 December 22, Robyn Vinter, “‘That’s how we’ve got to live’: the black market in England’s shoplifting capital”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:

     “I had to leave my job because I just couldn’t … yeah,” Tina says, welling up.

Translations

to flow upwards or outwards

Dutch: opwellen (nl) Esperanto: suprenflui Finnish: pursuta (fi), pulputa (fi), kummuta (fi) German: hervorquellen (de) Italian: sgorgare a fiotti Maori: whakapuke, whakapupuke Ottoman Turkish: شیشمك (şişmek), قبارمق (kabarmak) Swedish: välla (sv), välla fram, välla ut

(of an emotion) to accumulate, to the point of overwhelming

Finnish: kummuta (fi) Italian: salire in petto Maori: kōmanawa

Etymology 2

Adjective

well up (comparative more well up, superlative most well up)

1. (colloquial) Well versed; well acquainted (in or on).

   How well up are you on algebra?

Anagrams

• upwell