shore up
UK /ʃɔːˈɹ‿ʌp/ · US /ʃɔˈɹ‿ʌp/ verb
Forms shores up shoring up shored up
- verb (transitive, often figuratively) To reinforce or strengthen (something at risk of failure). “They hastened outside between storms to shore up the damaged fence.”
Synonyms
embolster prop up underfoot undergird underpin underprop underset prop shore
Etymology
From shore (“to provide with support”) + up. Shore is derived from Late Middle English shoren (“to prop, to support”) [and other forms], from shore (“a prop, a support”) [and other forms], + -en (suffix forming the infinitive form of verbs); while shore (noun) is from Middle Dutch schore, schare (“a prop, a stay”) (modern Dutch schoor), and Middle Low German schōre, schāre (“a prop, a stay; barrier; stockade”) (compare Old Norse skorða (“a prop, a stay”) (Norwegian skor, skorda)); further etymology unknown.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “shore up”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details