Up
Origin
From Old English upp, from Proto-Germanic *up-.
Full definition of up
Adverb
up
- Away from the centre of the Earth or other planet; in opposite direction to the downward pull of gravity.I looked up and saw the airplane overhead.
- (intensifier) Used as an aspect marker to indicate a completed action or state Thoroughly, completely.I will mix up the puzzle pieces.Tear up the contract.He really messed up.Please type up our monthly report.
- To or from one's possession or consideration.I picked up some milk on the way home.The committee will take up your request.She had to give up her driver's license after the accident.
- North.I will go up to New York to visit my family this weekend.
- To a higher level of some quantity or notional quantity, such as price, volume, pitch, happiness, etc.Gold has gone up with the uncertainty in the world markets.Turn it up, I can barely hear it.Listen to your voice go up at the end of a question.Cheer up, the weekend's almost here.
- (rail transport) Traditional term for the direction leading to the principal terminus, towards milepost zero.
- (sailing) Against the wind or current.
- (Cartesian graph) In a positive vertical direction.
- (cricket) Relatively close to the batsman.The bowler pitched the ball up.
- (hospitality) Without additional ice.Would you like that drink up or on ice?
- (UK, academia) Towards Cambridge or Oxford.She's going up to read Classics this September.
- 1867, John Timbs, Lives of wits and humourists, p. 125The son of the Dean of Lichfield was only three years older than Steele, who was a lad of only twelve, when at the age of fifteen, Addison went up to Oxford.
- 1998, Rita McWilliams Tullberg, Women at Cambridge, p. 112Others insinuated that women 'crowded up to Cambridge', not for the benefits of a higher education, but because of the proximity of 2,000 young men.
- 2002, Peter Harman, Cambridge Scientific Minds, p. 79A precocious mathematician, Babbage was already well versed in the Continental mathematical notations when he went up to Cambridge.
- To or in a position of equal advance or equality; not short of, back of, less advanced than, away from, etc.; usually followed by to or with.I was up to my chin in water.A stranger came up and asked me for directions.
- To or in a state of completion; completely; wholly; quite.Drink up. The pub is closing.Can you sum up your research?The comet burned up in the atmosphere.I need to sew up the hole in this shirt.
- Aside, so as not to be in use.to lay up riches; put up your weapons
Antonyms
Derived terms
Preposition
- Toward the top of.
- 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 4, Judge Short had gone to town, and Farrar was off for a three days' cruise up the lake. I was bitterly regretting I had not gone with him when the distant notes of a coach horn reached my ear, and I descried a four-in-hand winding its way up the inn road from the direction of Mohair.
- The cat went up the tree. They walk up the steps.
- Toward the center, source, or main point of reference; toward the end at which something is attached.The information made its way up the chain of command to the general. They took a boat up the river from the coast. I felt something crawling up my arm.
- Further along (in any direction).Go up the street until you see the sign.
- From south to north of
- 2012 October 31, David M. Halbfinger, "http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/01/nyregion/new-jersey-continues-to-cope-with-hurricane-sandy.html?hp," New York Times (retrieved 31 October 2012)Though the storm raged up the East Coast, it has become increasingly apparent that New Jersey took the brunt of it.
Antonyms
- (toward the top of) down
Derived terms
Adjective
up
- Awake.I can’t believe it’s 3 a.m. and you’re still up.
- Finished, to an endTime is up!
- In a good mood.I’m feeling up today.
- Willing; ready.If you are up for a trip, let’s go.
- Next in a sequence.Smith is up to bat.
- Happening; new.What is up with that project at headquarters?
- Facing upwards; facing toward the top.Put the notebook face up on the table.Take a break and put your feet up.
- Larger, greater in quantity.Sales are up from last quarter.
- Standing.Get up and give her your seat.
- On a higher level.
- 1925, Walter Anthony and Tom Reed (titles), Rupert Julian (director), , silent movie‘The Phantom! The Phantom is up from the cellars again!’
- Available; made public.The new notices are up as of last Tuesday.
- Well-informed; current.I’m not up on the latest news. What’s going on?
- (computing) Functional; working.Is the server back up?
- (of a railway line or train) Traveling towards a major terminus.The London train is on the up line.
- Headed, or designated to go, upward, as an escalator, stairway, elevator etc.
- (bar tending) Chilled and strained into a stemmed glass.A Cosmopolitan is typically served up.
- (slang) Erect.
- (of the Sun or Moon) Above the horizon, in the sky (i.e. during daytime or night-time)
- 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 4I have said I was still in darkness, yet it was not the blackness of the last night; and looking up into the inside of the tomb above, I could see the faintest line of light at one corner, which showed the sun was up.
- (slang, graffiti) well-known; renowned
- 1996, Matthew Busby Hunt, The Sociolinguistics of Tagging and Chicano Gang Graffiti (page 71)Being "up" means having numerous graffiti in the tagging landscape.
- 2009, Gregory J. Snyder, Graffiti Lives: Beyond the Tag in New York's Urban Underground (pages 16-40)Graffiti writers want their names seen by writers and others so that they will be famous. Therefore writers are very serious about any opportunity to “get up.†... The throw-up became one of the fundamental techniques for getting up, and thereby gaining recognition and fame.
- 2011, Adam Melnyk, Visual Orgasm: The Early Years of Canadian GraffitiFrom his great rooftop pieces, selected for high visibility, to his sneaky tags and fun loving stickers, he most certainly knows how to get up.
Antonyms
Derived terms
Noun
up
(usually uncountable; plural ups)Usage notes
Up is not commonly used as object of a preposition.
Antonyms
- (direction opposed to the pull of gravity) down
Derived terms
Verb
- (transitive, colloquial) To increase or raise.If we up the volume, we'll be able to make out the details.
- Black Widow
- 2011, December 10, Marc Higginson, Bolton 1 - 2 Aston Villa, After a dreadful performance in the opening 45 minutes, they upped their game after the break and might have taken at least a point from the match.
- (transitive, colloquial) To promote.It wasn’t long before they upped him to Vice President.
- Decca: The Letters of Jessica Mitford
- Altered Carbon
- Turning Points in Television
- Passion
- (intransitive) To act suddenly, usually with another verb.He just upped and quit.He upped and punched that guy.
- 1991, Michael Jackson, Who Is ItAnd she didn't leave a letter, she just upped and ran away.
Synonyms
- (increase) turn up