get hooked up

Meanings

1. 1phraseintransitiveinformal

   to be connected to a piece of equipment, especially medical equipment that keeps you alive or supplies something.

   Grammar: No object; the person or thing joined to the equipment comes first, and the equipment follows to: he was hooked up to a monitor.

   Patterns

   • get hooked up to something
   • be hooked up to something

   She got hooked up to a heart monitor as soon as she arrived at the hospital.

   The patient was hooked up to a drip overnight.

   Our new washing machine gets hooked up to the hot tap, not the cold one.

2. 2phraseintransitiveinformal

   to be put in contact with someone or to be given something useful, often through a friend or a contact.

   Grammar: No object; use with with for the person or thing you are connected to: we got hooked up with a great supplier.

   Patterns

   • get hooked up with someone
   • get hooked up with something
   • get someone hooked up with someone

   A friend got me hooked up with a band that needed a drummer.

   They got hooked up with a cheap apartment near the station.

   If you need tickets, I can get you hooked up.

3. 3phraseintransitiveinformal

   to start a romantic or sexual relationship with someone.

   Grammar: No object; usually followed by with and the person: those two got hooked up last summer.

   Patterns

   • get hooked up with someone

   Did you hear that Jess and Marco got hooked up at the party?

   He got hooked up with a girl from his Spanish class.

Common combinations

get hooked up to a machine

The nurses got him hooked up to a machine that helped him breathe.

get hooked up with someone

My cousin got me hooked up with a job at the hotel.

get someone hooked up

Don't worry about the tickets — I'll get you hooked up.

be hooked up to a drip

By noon she was hooked up to a drip and feeling much better.

get hooked up together

They got hooked up together after the wedding and have been together since.

Synonyms and how they differ

connect

Neutral and more formal; use it for machines and wires when you do not want an informal tone.

set up

Similar in the sense of arranging something for someone, but it does not suggest a romantic relationship.

link up

Close in the sense of joining with people, but it sounds more like a planned meeting than a relationship.

Opposites

Word family

hookup noun

An informal noun for a meeting or a casual sexual encounter.

hook-up noun

Same as hookup, often used for a connection between devices or people.

Commonly confused: get hooked up or hook up? get hooked up or hang up?

Practice

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Write a sentence using “get hooked up”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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