soup up

soup  (sp)

n.

1. A liquid food prepared from meat, fish, or vegetable stock combined with various other ingredients and often containing solid pieces.

2. A liquid rich in organic compounds and providing favorable conditions for the emergence and growth of life forms: primordial soup.

3. Slang Something having the appearance or a consistency suggestive of soup, especially:

a. Dense fog.

b. Nitroglycerine.

4. A chaotic or unfortunate situation.

Phrasal Verb:

soup up Slang

To modify (something) so as to increase its capacity to perform or satisfy, especially to add horsepower or greater speed potential to (an engine or a vehicle).

Idiom:

in the soup Slang

Having difficulties; in trouble.

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[Middle English soupe, from Old French, of Germanic origin; see seu-² in Indo-European roots. Soup up, from soup, material injected into a horse to make it run faster (influenced by supercharge).]

Thesaurus

Verb

1.

soup up - make more powerful; "he souped up the old cars" hop up, hot up modify - make less severe or harsh or extreme; "please modify this letter to make it more polite"; "he modified his views on same-gender marriage"