stir up - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

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stir up (third-person singular simple present stirs up, present participle stirring up, simple past and past participle stirred up)

  1. (transitive) To arouse or excite (passion or action, etc.).
    Synonyms: instigate, provoke; see also Thesaurus:incite
    • 1900 June 1, Wilbur Wright, Letter to Octave Chanute:
      What one man can do himself directly is but little. If however he can stir up ten others to take up the task he has accomplished much.
    • Episode 16:
      All those wretched quarrels, in his humble opinion, stirring up bad blood, from some bump of combativeness or gland of some kind, erroneously supposed to be about a punctilio of honour and a flag […]
    • 1965, Attila Zohar, Kings Cross Black Magic, Sydney: Horwitz Publications, page 79:
      These women are experts at flattery, cajolery and sexual excitation, and also possess unusual talents for stirring up quarrels, stimulating jealousies and spreading slander and malicious rumors.
  2. (transitive) To mix (ingredients) by stirring.
    Synonyms: stir, swizzle
  3. (transitive) To move or disturb slightly; to make turbid.
    Synonyms: agitate, muddle, roil, trouble

arouse or excite passion or action

to cause (trouble etc)

to mix ingredients

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