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trump up
trump something up
1. to promote or boost something. They think they have to trump something up to get people to see it. They trumped up the movie so much that many people were disappointed when it finally came out.
2. to think something up; to contrive something. Do you just sit around trumping charges up against innocent people? They trumped up the charges in an effort to disgrace me.
trump up
Concoct fraudulently, fabricate, as in They trumped up a charge of conspiracy, or She had trumped up another excuse for not doing the work. This expression, first recorded in 1695, uses trump in the sense of "devise fraudulently," a usage otherwise obsolete.
trump up
v. To devise something fraudulently: The corrupt cop trumped up a charge of conspiracy against the people under arrest.