buckle up

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buckle up (third-person singular simple present buckles up, present participle buckling up, simple past and past participle buckled up)

1. (transitive) To fasten with a buckle.
   • 1855, Charles Dickens, “The Holly-tree. Third Branch—The Bill”, in Christmas Stories […] (The Works of Charles Dickens; XV), de luxe edition, London: Chapman and Hall, published 1881, →OCLC, page 63:

     It was eight o'clock to-morrow evening when I buckled up my travelling writing-desk in its leather case, paid my Bill, and got on my warm coats and wrappers.

2. (intransitive, idiomatic) To fasten one's seat belt or safety belt.

   Synonym: belt up

   Buckle up every time you drive somewhere in a car, and make sure your passengers buckle up, too.

• buckle down