souped-up

Definition

Of a racehorse: injected with a substance to make it run faster or to change its temperament.

Etymology

Uncertain; the fact that the earlier senses seem to be the horse racing cant and United States Navy slang ones suggests a derivation from soup (“liquid food item”), connoting a horse or a person being filled with a liquid. Alternatively, it has been suggested that the term is a modified clipping of supe(r), with reference to an aeroplane or automobile engine being supercharged: see, for example, the quotation from 1925. This sense appears to post-date the horse-racing and navy slang senses.

Example Sentences

• "$600.00 BUYS T. M. Scout with "Souped up" OX5 motor. Snappiest commercial single seater built. H. W. Mackie, Air Service, Houston, Texas."
• "[W]ill it be possible to mount a larger engine for use in La Paz? I doubt very much if the standard 165 would get off the ground up here with a student. I wish you would take that up with the factory and see if they can put out a job with a suped-up seven-cylinder job. The R-540 I think it is."
• "AUTOMOBILES: SAFETY; Teen-Agers With ‘Souped Up’ Vehicles Urged to Be Careful on Labor Day"