separable phrasal verb: hike up

diesel-price-hike

Today’s phrasal verb is “hike up”, and it means to raise something, usually a piece of clothing or the price of something. For example:

My sister always hikes up her skirt after she leaves for school because she wants the boys to notice her legs.

That store keeps hiking up their prices, so I don’t want to shop there anymore.

The prices in that store have been hiked up again. (passive voice)

The airlines always hike up the airfares during the summer. It’s really annoying.

In English, the word “hike” is always connected to the idea of going up. In the Japanese language (and maybe in other languages too), when people say they will “go hiking”, it is on a flat surface. However, in English we would say “walking” for this. If we are walking up a mountain or a hill, then we say “hiking” because we are physically going up.

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