Definition
To muster up the mental energy to do something.
To prepare (something).
To increase, as the volume, power or energy of something.
In Context
- "I kept thinking: this has nothing to do with my interests, with what I believe is a desirable subject for literature. I was doing it as a performance. I kept cranking myself up to perform, to meet the demands of the genre. I know this sounds terribly inartistic."
- "He cranked up the volume to 11."
- "And it was not until Ryan Shawcross's towering header was cleared off the line by Danny Murphy on the stroke of half-time that Stoke started to crank up the pressure and suggest they were capable of getting back into the match."