The phrasal verb "ring up"

Benben asks, "What does the word 'up' mean in 'ring up'?"

Good question! It's hard to know what the word "up" means in the phrasal verb "ring up." We know what the verb "ring" means by itself (usually: to make a sound), and we know what the preposition "up" means by itself (usually: toward a higher point), but as with many phrasal verbs, when you put the parts together, their meanings can change.

Here are three different meanings that the phrasal verb "ring up" can have, taken from the Merriam-Webster Learner's Dictionary. Compare them to the usual meaning of the preposition "up" by itself (: toward a higher point):

ring up [phrasal verb]

1 : to use a special machine (called a cash register) to calculate the cost of (something, such as goods or services)

• The cashier rang up our purchases.

2 : to achieve (something)

• The company rang up huge profits last quarter. 

3 : chiefly British to make a telephone call to someone or something

• I'll ring you up tomorrow

For meanings 1 and 2 above, both of which suggest the idea of reaching something higher - either by adding numbers or by achieving a good result - I think there is a connection to the usual meaning of "up." But for meaning 3, "to make a telephone call to someone or something," it's hard to find a connection with the usual meaning of "up."

This makes "ring up" a good example of a phrasal verb. For in some cases, the preposition (or adverb) in a phrasal verb preserves much of its usual meaning, but in other cases it does not, and in those cases, the meaning of the phrasal verb can seem unrelated to the meaning of its parts.