do up

do up idiom
  1. Fasten up or put up; also, dress up. For example, Let's do up all the gifts in matching paper, or Please help me do up the collar button, or Jane did up her hair for the dance, or The children were all done up in their best outfits. [c. 1800]
  2. do something up brown or do it up brown. Do something thoroughly or very well, as in They really did it up brown for the dinner party. The allusion here is unclear, but it may be to wrapping a package in brown paper. [Mid-1800s]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Comments
Improve this definition.
Do you have more to add? Share your linguistic knowledge or observation.
/Register to save your comments.