adj. phr. (common).—1. Pregnant; KNOCKED-UP (q.v.). TO SEW UP = to get with child.
2. (pugilists’).—Severely punished: spec. with bloated eyes.
3. (common).—Exhausted; drunk; sick.
1829. BUCKSTONE, Billy Taylor, i. 2.
| Kitty. [Aside, and taking out a vial.] This liquid, sent me by Monsieur Chabert, | |
| The fire-king, will SOW HIM UP. |
1836. DICKENS, Pickwick Papers, lv. “Busy!” replied Pell; “I’m completely SEWN UP, as my friend the late Lord Chancellor many a time used to say to me.”
1841. Punch, I., 278. We had a great night in London before I started only I got rascally screwed, not exactly SEWED UP, you know, but hit under the wing so that I could not very well fly.
1847. ROBB, Streaks of Squatter Life, 33. A most excellent first number—just the thing—SEW the lower town UP.
1850. F. E. SMEDLEY, Frank Fairlegh, xiv. “She’s in first-rate training, ’pon my word: I thought she’d have SEWN me UP at one time—the pace was terrific.”
1860. HALIBURTON (‘Sam Slick’), The Season-Ticket, No. x. “Are you sure you wasn’t drunk, uncle?” said I. “Quite certain,” he said; “I might have been overtaken … but I am sure I wasn’t SEWED UP.”
1884. W. C. RUSSELL, Jack’s Courtship, xiii. if Alphonso carried his daughter away from England, I should be SEWED UP, as Jack says, for want of funds to stick to his skirts.
1900. F. E. GRAINGER (‘Headon Hill’), Caged! xxii. She’s about SEWN-UP—that old geyser; tired herself out at the game.
4. (nautical).—Grounded: also SUED UP.
