preposition "up"

 'up' can be used with different verbs:
- to get up
- to eat up
- to stay up
- to grow up
- to make up
- throw up


‎1) To get up:
It means 'to stand after lying down or being on your knees'. Typically, it is used as a synonym/correlate of 'wake up':
=> "When did you get up this morning?"

In informal spoken English, it can also mean 'to stand in order to party/have fun':
=> "Get up, stand up, come on put your hands up..." (lyrics from "Jump around", by House of Pain"


‎2) 'To eat up' means two things (at least): to eat something very fast, voraciously, in order not to let it go to waste:
=> "Eat up your vegetables, young man!"

In informal spoken English, it can also mean 'to believe something blindly - and to be a bit gullible':
=> "She told her boss that she was sick, and he totally ate it up" (he believed her story).


3) 'To stay up' means 'to remain awake when you're supposed to sleep, or when it's late':
=> "We stayed up till 3am playing video games last night, now I have the worst headache."

It can also mean 'to remain in an upright position, to remain standing':
=> "He tried to knock down the pins, but two of them stayed up" (when bowling)


‎4) 'To grow up' means to get older or wiser/more mature:
=> "What do you want to do when you grow up?" (when you're older)
=> "You find this funny? Come on girl, grow up!" (be more mature)

Beware: plants/trees grow (in size). If they grow up, you mean that they expand vertically (they don't become older or wiser;)


‎5) 'To make up' means at least two things:
- To compensate for something:
=> "He missed the last test, he will have to make up for it."
=> "Last night was so much fun! We made up for lost time!" (we compensated for all the time we didn't spend together)

- It also means 'to be reconciled, to be on friendly terms again':
=> "We were at odds for a long time, but we decided to make up." ('to bury the hatchet' is also a good synonym expression).


6) And finally, 'to throw up'... I think everyone knows about that one :) It happens when your stomach is not happy with you, and it's never pleasant.

However, this is a funny expression to make the action sound better:
"To pray the porcelain god" (porcelain god= the toilet). When you pray the porcelain god, you're on your knees in front of the toilet.
=> "I don't know what I ate yesterday, but I spent all night praying the porcelain god."