buckle down

phrasal verb

buckled down; buckling down; buckles down

informal

: to start to work hard

You had better buckle down if you want to get good grades.

Examples of buckle down in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web After going into halftime up three, the Lynx buckled down and allowed just 10 Liberty third-quarter points. —

Fiifi Frimpong, New York Daily News, 26 June 2024 Anthony Santander’s two-run homer in the ninth provided a sliver of hope, but closer Clay Holmes buckled down after to shut the door. —

Jacob Calvin Meyer, Baltimore Sun, 19 June 2024 Thank you for all the hard work that goes into having high expectations, for buckling down and teaching them the discomfort and joy of tolerating frustration toward a greater good. —

Meghan Overdeep, Southern Living, 17 June 2024 The Cougars buckled down and held South Carroll to one second-half goal, scoring twice themselves. —

Sam Cohn, Baltimore Sun, 16 May 2024 If for some reason a professional matter ends near this time, buckle down to attempt to find something new. —

Skyler Caruso, Peoplemag, 19 May 2024 But for many people, there appears to be an inherent logic to the idea of simply buckling down and cutting back. —

Michelle Stacey, Smithsonian Magazine, 14 May 2024 But forecasts for lower interest rates ahead give consumers more reason to buckle down and get to work. —

Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press, 15 Feb. 2024 Adjacent to the primary office is a supplementary workspace; this smaller office is perfect if guests have a larger entourage or a personal assistant that needs to buckle down. —

Gemma Harris, Robb Report, 22 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'buckle down.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.