Verb
summon up (third-person singular simple present summons up, present participle summoning up, simple past and past participle summoned up)
To look within oneself to find and put into action a particular positive quality, such as strength, energy or courage.
I summoned up all my remaining willpower.
Can anyone remember love? It's like trying to summon up the smell of roses in a cellar. You might see a rose, but never the perfume. Arthur Miller
Summon up a supper,” he said. "Oh, I could. On golden plates, if you like. But that's illusion, and when you eat illusions you end up hungrier than before. Ursula K. Le Guin
Some still ask of us: what do you want? We answer with three words that summon up our entire program. Here they are...Italy, Republic, Socialization... Socialization is no other than the implantation of Italian Socialism... Benito Mussolini
There's a certain point beyond which any sufficiently extreme Calvinist sect becomes semiotically indistinguishable from the Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh. But even though their eschatology is insane, it doesn't necessarily follow that they're trying to summon up the elder gods. Charles Stross
I used to be able to summon up scenes at will, but now aging memory is so busy weeding its own garden that, promiscuously, it pulls up roses as well as crabgrass. Gore Vidal
I saw clearly only when I saw with love. Or can one ever remember love? It's like trying to summon up the smell of roses in a cellar. You might see a rose, but never the perfume. And that's the truth of roses, isn't it? - The perfume? Arthur Miller