1
general::
Phrase(s): heat up
1. Lit. to get warmer or hot. • It really heats up in the afternoon around here. • How soon will dinner be heated up? 2. Fig. to grow more animated or combative. • The debate began to heat up near the end. • Their argument was heating up, and I was afraid there would be fighting., Phrase(s): heat someone up
Fig. to make someone angry. (One old [now folksy] past tense is het.) • This kind of nonsense really heats me up. • Mean talk heats up the kids., Phrase(s): heat something up (to something)
to raise the temperature of something to a certain level. • Please heat this room up to about seventy degrees. • Can you heat up the room a little more?
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs
2
general::
Become acute or intense, as in If inflation heats up, the interest rate will surely rise, or The debate over the budget was heating up. [Early 1200s]
American Heritage Idioms