Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US) to raise, to increase, e.g. to raise rents.

1904		N.-Y. Trib. 8 May 10: The management thought it saw a chance to jack up rents, and made a sudden announcement of a raise [DA].
1914		Ade ‘The New Fable of Susan and the Daughter’ in Ade’s Fables 2235: He began to see that he would be fairly busy all his life, jacking up Rents.
1920		Eve. World (NY) 5 Apr. 6/1: [headline] Household Goods Retailers Jack Up Prices and Profits.
1934		L. Berg Prison Nurse (1964) 109: The row that prison junkers raise when the price of dope is jacked up.
1947		S. Lewis Kingsblood Royal (2001) 18: If these Democrats and Communists keep on jacking up the income tax.
1959		M. Richler Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1964) 101: They might jack up prices or even refuse to sell.
1963		H.S. Thompson letter 11 Sept. in Proud Highway (1997) 399: A world shortage of silver has jacked up the price.
1978		R. Price Ladies’ Man (1985) 17: All that so they could jack up the price of a hot dog.
1989		C. Hiaasen Skin Tight 52: Maybe Reynaldo Flemm would get worried enough to jack up his offer.
1999		Guardian Guide 24–30 July 8: Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger have been jacking up their prices for years.
2001		N. Barlay Hooky Gear 33: Even jacked up on platforms her eyes is barely above the trench which is her black shapeless garms.
2001		J. Stahl Plainclothes Naked (2002) 262: Problem is, people in law enforcement [...] are so down with that show, they’ll jack up your sentence just to kiss John Walsh’s balls.
2010		K. Richards Life 406: There’s sometimes really no drought; it’s only to jack the price up.

2. (US) to urge, to incite.

1914		S.H. Adams Clarion 100: I think I’ll jack up our boys in the city room by hinting that there may be a shake-up coming under the new owner [HDAS].
1954		LeVier & Guenther Pilot 123: This only served to jack you up and get you back on the ball.
1967		H.M. Mason New Tigers 83: The first task he set himself [...] was to jack up the mess officer and the cooks [...] whose performance was borderline [HDAS].
2019		D. Winslow Border [ebook] ‘You’re jacking me up for a raise? [...] Okay, what are we talking? Give me a number’.

3. (N.Z.) to arrange, to organize, to put right, to spruce up.

1920		Ade Hand-made Fables 65: He would stand at the Corner of 4th and Main, day after day [...] and try to think of some new way of jacking up old Sleepy Hollow.
1936		M. Levin Old Bunch (1946) 68: He was trying to jack up the old man’s nerve.
1947		D. Davin For the Rest of Our Lives 106: I don’t need to tell you he’ll probably come at us like hell as soon as he can jack up a counterattack.
1959		G. Slatter Gun in My Hand 133: Nothing to do but sit on our fannies in the wine bars jacking up a signorina for the night.
1963		B. Crump ‘One of Us’ in Best of Barry Crump (1974) 134: He [...] jacked him up a meal of sorts.
1975		D. Davin Breathing Spaces 96: We’ll have to get hold of a little sheila for you as well [...] I’ll get one jacked up for you, trust me.
1981		G. Johnston Fish Factory 108: Why don’t we get him to jack up a list of all the things we could do.
1995		B. James Detective is Dead (1996) 138: They wanted Ember to transform them, jack them up to the grandeur of prime operators he’s worked with in the unmatchable past.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 115: jack up 1. To organise, such as jacking up a date for the evening. Since about 1930. 2. To support, as in jacking up a retaining wall. 3. Increase something, as in jacking up the price of fruit. 4. Organise deceit, as in jacking up a coalition deal.
2006		P. Shannon Davey Darling 94: We were just working some things out, [...]Think he’s jacked us up with a place at the end of town where the depot is.

4. (US) to excite, to stimulate.

1966		F. Elli Riot (1967) 3: He had to jack up his wig on something once in a while or he’d turn into a zombie.
1966		New Yorker 15 July 53: My boys are jacked up by [...] movies.
1967		Reynolds & McClure Freewheelin Frank 55: An acid high, LSD high, jacks you up stimulant-wise.
1999		J. Ellroy ‘My Life as a Creep’ in Destination: Morgue! (2004) 116: The shit [i.e. amphetamines] jacked him up for long cram sessions.
2008		G. Pelecanos Way Home (2009) 85: You’re getting kids all jacked up on one hundred and eighty pages of violence and disrespect, then you add ten pages of redemption in the end.
2012		G. Pelecanos (con. 1972) What It Was 108: Took a couple of fifths of Bali Hai to jack up your courage, didn’t it, Dallas?
2015		Courier-News (Bridgewater, NJ) 10 Apr. A14/1: Analysts expect a new natural ‘Jacked Up’ pill could put a huge crimp into ‘Big Pharma’ profits.

5. to obtain (money).

2010

K. Richards Life 84: Big Bill Broonzy realized he could jack up a bit of dough if he switched from Chicago blues to being a folksy bluesman.