What does the phrasal verb 'turn up' mean? Is it an idiom?

[lira]

Test No. incompl/inter-33 "Story (2)", question 4

Some people had turned ......... on the off chance.

(a) away
(b) up
(c) into
(d) to

Test No. incompl/inter-33 "Story (2)", answer 4

Some people had turned up on the off chance.

Correct answer: (b) up

Your answer was: incorrect
Some people had turned away on the off chance.
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Some people had turned up on the off chance

please help, whats the meaning of turned up on

thank you

[Alan]

This means arrive.
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English as a Second Language
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[Strawberry girl]

[Alan]

Hi,

'On the off chance' means without any particular purpose or intention. In this story people arrived at the hotel without having booked a table just to see if by chance there were some setas available.

A
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English as a Foreign Language
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[Prezbucky]

Just FYI:

"Turn up" is also somewhat commonly used thusly (for instance):

"Turn up the heat, Tom. I'm freezing!"
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