tear it up

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛəɹ ɪt ˈʌp/

tear it up (third-person singular simple present tears it up, present participle tearing it up, simple past tore it up, past participle torn it up)

1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see tear,‎ it,‎ up.
2. (sports) To compete extremely well, to trounce the competition.
   • 1996, Dan Gutman, Tim McCarver, The Way Baseball Works, →ISBN, page 178:

     Statistics not only help us keep track of who's tearing it up and who's stinking it up, they shape the way we think about the game.

   • 2013, Bobby "Slick" Leonard, Lew Freedman, Boom, Baby!: My Basketball Life in Indiana, →ISBN, page 118:

     You look back at the greatest players and if they were in their prime and in the game now, my goodness gracious. Jerry West would be tearing it up. Elgin would be tearing it up. Oscar Robertson would be tearing it up. Wilt Chamberlain would be tearing it up. You just go down that list. I'm sitting here watching the NBA games every night now, and I know what those guys could do. It's just an enduring greatness.

   • 2016 September 28, Tom English, “Celtic 3–3 Manchester City”, in BBC Sport‎, BBC Sport:

     The teenager, as beloved a full-back as any in these parts since Danny McGrain was tearing it up, cut in, shot and saw his attempt deflected in off Sterling's boot. Cue more pandemonium.

3. (music) To perform with great energy and flair.
   • 2009, J. B. Kohl, Eric Beetner, One Too Many Blows to the Head, →ISBN, page 188:

     Dad would see them watching me polishing the leather and he'd call me out on stage and the crowd went wild. Little twelve-year-old girl tearing it up.

   • 2012, Buddy Guy, David Ritz, When I Left Home: My Story, →ISBN, page 242:

     His Double Trouble started tearing it up all over the world. Was just three guys—Stevie, Tommy Shannon on bass, and Chris Layton on drums—but man, they had a big sound.

   • 2015, Marky Ramone, Richard Herschlag, Punk Rock Blitzkrieg: My Life as a Ramone, →ISBN, page 210:

     The Motor City Madman's albums hadn't been selling as well as Cat Scratch Fever a couple of years earlier, but he was still tearing it up Nugent style.

4. To succeed in a big way.
   • 2008, Todd Babbitt, Millionaire by 28: Real Estate Investing for the Young & Ambitious, →ISBN:

     I was in Florida doing my investing thing, absolutely tearing it up with huge returns.

   • 2014, Chuck Dixon, Winterworld #2:

     Butch Guice and Diego Rodriguez are tearing it up, huh? They put across the notion of constant cold so evocatively that expect to be able to see my breath as I read the book.

   • 2016, Fujino Omori, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?,, →ISBN:

     "Hey, Eina, that little brother of yours is really tearing it up"

5. To display great energy or force.
   • 2010, Gwenna Sebastian, Lost and Found:

     The wind was tearing it up, the waves at least eight to ten feet high as the surf crashed on shore.

   • 2012, Keri Glassman, The New You and Improved Diet, →ISBN:

     Here are my eight favorite get-fit foods, based on that research and what's worked best for my clients over the years, along with what makes me feel like tearing it up on my morning run.

   • 2014, Mistress Ginger, Mistress Ginger Cooks!: Everyday Vegan Food for Everyone, →ISBN:

     Made with a few wholesome ingredients but packed with rich, savory flavor, this vegan version of a classic Alfredo sauce will get you out on the dance floor, cutting a rug and tearing it up, especially when it's served over Bodacious Tortelloni (page 102) or another carb-o-licious pasta.

6. To display sexual prowess.
   • 2010, Lea Mishell, Teresa Seals, Mary L. Wilson, Tales from the Lou, →ISBN, page 125:

     Girl, I'll give yo lil ass a nice lil workout. I can carry yo ass all over my spot and tear it up at the same time.

   • 2011, Brenda Hampton, Naughty 5: Too Naughty, →ISBN:

     My face might have been jacked up from Jaylin, but it surely didn't affect me in any way down below. After I told Stephon about what had happened in court, we got a good laugh and wound up in my bedroom, tearing it up.

   • 2012, Lisa Lennox, Crackhead: A Novel, →ISBN, page 67:

     Then, oh my God, he started hitting a spot that I didn't even know I had. I started screaming at the top of my lungs. He knew he was tearing it up, and that excited him so much that he erupted inside of me, rolled over, and passed out.

7. To behave with wild abandon; to indulge in sex, drugs, and/or alcohol.
   • 2009, Lisa McMann, Fade, →ISBN, page 64:

     Carrie told Janie that Melinda saw him in Lansing at a club, and he was tearing it up. Funny, that. Because he seems very, very shy.

   • 2013, Amy Sanders, The Death Shroud: A Novel of Suspense, →ISBN, page 55:

     I knew I wasn't living right, but I'd grown up so sheltered and such a "good girl" that I kind of lost it when I experienced the independence of college life. I'd been tearing it up for a couple of years pretty consistently, but it was getting harder to maintain.

   • 2014, Scott Ian, I'm the Man: The Story of That Guy from Anthrax, →ISBN, page 228:

     I don't know if having two shitty marriages short-circuited my brain or if something inside burst out of its cage while I was on tour with Pantera, but from 1997 to 2000 I was tearing it up in a way that made my dalliances with models and scenesters with John in the early nineties look like I was a fucking altar boy.

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