pack up

phrasal verb

packed up; packing up; packs up

1

: to gather one's belongings together and put them in a suitcase or other container for traveling

He packed up and left town.

2

British, informal : to stop or quit

She packs up when things become difficult.

3

British, informal : to stop working properly

The lift has packed up, so you'll have to take the stairs to her flat.

Examples of pack up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Like Bradley and Akerman, whose idea of fun is to pack up the kids and travel somewhere, Sardine is nomadic, setting up shop last October, during Art Basel, in an elegant Belle Époque apartment in Paris’s Saint-Germain-des-Prés neighborhood. —Dodie Kazanjian, Vogue, 5 June 2025

That, plus a cockroach invasion brought on by renovations in her building, finally convinced her to pack up and go. —Anna Fixsen, New York Times, 29 May 2025

The last of the businesses at the once-popular Festival Marketplace mall in Pompano Beach are packing up to leave as the decades-old retail spot that hosted boutiques, jewelers, electronics, furniture shops and eateries nears a June 1 shutdown. —David Lyons, Miami Herald, 28 May 2025

And the whole thing packs up into a convenient travel bag. —Danielle Hallock, AFAR Media, 16 May 2025

Rhymes for pack up

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup
• markup