dish up
B1 informal separable transitive
In simple words
To put food on plates and get it ready for people to eat.
Literal meaning: To move food up from a cooking dish onto serving plates.
Meanings
1 A2 informal
To serve a prepared meal or food onto plates, ready for eating.
"Can you dish up the pasta while I pour the drinks?"
Grammar: separable
2 B1
idiomatic
informal
To present or provide something (information, entertainment, excuses) in a ready-made way.
"The documentary dishes up a fascinating account of life in the 1920s."
Grammar: separable
Usage notes
Most commonly used in domestic or cooking contexts. Can be used figuratively to mean presenting information or entertainment. Common in British and Australian English in everyday speech.
Commonly used with
dinner meal food pasta stew information
Forms
Base
dish up
I/you/we/they
3rd person
dishes up
he/she/it
Past simple
dished up
yesterday
Past participle
dished up
have + pp
-ing form
dishing up
continuous
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Synonyms
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