Phrasal verb
bash up
Definition
phrasal verb. to hit someone or something many times and cause serious damage or injury.
phrasal verb. to physically assault a person or damage an object through repeated, forceful impact; typically carries a colloquial or informal register.
Examples
“He got bashed up in a fight outside the club.”
“The old car was completely bashed up after it rolled down the steep hill into a tree.”
“The protagonist returns home with a bashed up face, serving as a visceral reminder of the violent encounter he barely survived.”
Examples
simple
“He got bashed up in a fight outside the club.”
contextual
“The old car was completely bashed up after it rolled down the steep hill into a tree.”
complex
“The protagonist returns home with a bashed up face, serving as a visceral reminder of the violent encounter he barely survived.”
Usage
often used in the passive voice to describe the state of a person or object after an attack.
Teaching tip
highlight that 'bash' alone implies a single hit, while 'bash up' emphasizes the resulting state of damage or the intensity of the beating.
Pitfall
The thieves bashed up to him.
The thieves bashed him up.
this is a transitive phrasal verb; the object must follow the verb or the particle, not be introduced by 'to'.
Phrasal verb
Particles
up
Separability
optional
Pattern
bash (+ object) + up (+ object)