rark up

English edit

Verb edit

rark up (third-person singular simple present rarks up, present participle rarking up, simple past and past participle rarked up)

(New Zealand, slang, transitive) To tell (someone) off.
(New Zealand, slang, transitive) To provoke or hurry (someone) into doing something.
- 2019 August 23, “Top darts players converge on Hamilton”, in Radio NZ‎^[1]:
  Helping to rark-up the crowd at any world series event is MC John McDonald.
(New Zealand, slang, transitive) To make (someone) angry or annoyed.
- 2016 June 6, “Nightmare neighbour promises to tidy up his act”, in Stuff‎^[2]:
  I know I rark up the neighbours a bit . . . I'm settling down a bit now though.

Noun edit

rark up (plural rark ups)

(New Zealand, slang) A telling off.
- 2016 September 26, “'Bit of a rark-up' from Sir Ed”, in Otago Daily Times‎^[3]:
  I lived to tell the tale, but after I got dragged out of the crevasse, I got a bit of a rark-up, which was totally reasonable.
(New Zealand, slang) A provocation.

Usage notes edit

A noun or pronoun may be placed in the middle of the phrase; "rark someone up".

References edit

Dunedin City Council Website archive