do up
SeparableThe object can go before or after the particle — but a pronoun MUST go in the middle: “clean it up”, never “clean up it”.
How to say it
Stress the particle, not the verb: do UP. Saying “DO up” is the clearest learner tell — the verb stays light and the particle carries the beat.
A glide appears. Two vowels meet, so American English slips a /w/ between them: “do up” → “do-wup”. You do not insert it deliberately — it falls out of not stopping between the words.
2 meanings
- 1
To fasten a button, zip or lace.
- “Do up your coat — it's freezing out there.”
Similar: fasten, button
- 2
To renovate or decorate a building.
- “They bought a wreck and did it up over two years.”
Similar: renovate