coil up into

coil up into (something)

To curl oneself or something into a certain shape. A noun or pronoun can be used between "coil" and "up." Unfortunately, the yarn in this basket is all coiled up into a ball—it'll take some time to untangle it. It's so cold in here that the cat has coiled up into a ball while she desperately waits for the radiator to heat up. You need to coil this up into a more compact size if you want to smuggle it into the movie theater.

See also: coil, up

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

coil (itself) up into something

[for something] to wrap or twist itself into a particular shape. The frightened snaked coiled itself up into a knot. The spring coiled up into its original shape.

See also: coil, up

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.