trump up
(tr, adverb) to concoct or invent (a charge, accusation, etc) so as to deceive or implicate someone
Words Nearby trump up
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
How to use trump up in a sentence
Obsequious menials might even set the dogs at him, or trump up a charge against him and put him in jail.
The Life of Thomas Wanless, Peasant | Alexander Johnstone WilsonI can trump up some excuse to mother about not staying all night with you, as I intended.
The Night Riders | Henry C. WoodIf we hang around here for another day they'll trump up another fake charge an' clean us out!
Square Deal Sanderson | Charles Alden SeltzerIf you haven't, you'd better trump up one together, and I'll send you my attorney to hear it.
The Younger Set | Robert W. ChambersBut a lawyer with no cases on hand has to trump up something to advertise himself.
Polly's Southern Cruise | Lillian Elizabeth Roy
Other Idioms and Phrases with trump up
Concoct fraudulently, fabricate, as in They trumped up a charge of conspiracy, or She had trumped up another excuse for not doing the work. This expression, first recorded in 1695, uses trump in the sense of “devise fraudulently,” a usage otherwise obsolete.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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