verb, adv., prep., and subs. (old).—1. In various elliptical and colloquial senses. As verb, generic for action: cf. DOWN. Thus TO UP with one’s fist, a stick, etc. = to raise the hand, etc., for striking a blow; TO UP with the standard = to bear aloft the flag; ‘UP guards, and at ’em’ = ‘Stand and charge the enemy,’ and so on. Adverbially in many connections: as (1) out of bed; (2) on one’s legs (ready to speak); in the saddle; under repair (of streets); advanced in rank, position, value, etc.; in revolt, a commotion, or the like; in progress or taking place (as a hunt); adjourned, at an end (as a sitting of the House), etc. Also a scoring-limit at billiards (500 or 1000 UP); recorded on the ‘telegraph’ at cricket (Grace 100 UP = a century of runs made). Also in numerous phrases and combinations, ‘What’s UP’? = What’s the matter, or What’s going on; UP TO (or IN) = well-equipped, equal to, conversant with (the law, mathematics, tricks of trade, etc.); ALL’S UP (or UP WITH) = everything is lost, ruin stares one in the face: frequently UP is spelt as, it’s all ‘U-P’; TO GO UP = (1) to travel to London, Paris, etc. (as the centre and focus of national life): specifically (university) to return to Oxford or Cambridge, the antithesis in this case being ‘going down’ to London, home, etc.; (2) to offer oneself for examination; TO HAVE (or PULL UP) = (1) to summons, arrest, or bring before a magistrate; and (2) to check a downward course (as of drink, dissipation, or the like); UP AND DOWN (See UP-AND-DOWN); TO COME UP WITH = to overtake, catch up; TO LOOK UP = to improve in health, credit, value; UP TO = about to do, occur, or in preparation; UP A TREE (or TREED) = (1) done for, ruined, (2) = in a difficulty, CORNERED (q.v.), and (3) drunk; also UP IN ONE’S HAT: see SCREWED; TO UP JIB (THE STICKS, or THE STAKES) = to pack up and go, to be off: see BUNK; TO UP AND DUST = to hurry up, move fast; UP TO SNUFF (SCENT, or THE ROPES) = KNOWING (q.v.), WIDE-AWAKE (q.v.), cunning, sharp (GROSE); UP TO THE KNOCKER (DOOR, NINES, A THING OR TWO, etc.) = good, capital, excellent; UP THE SPOUT = (1) in pawn, (2) imprisoned (GROSE); UP TO ONE’S EARS (ELBOWS, THE HILT, etc.) = overwhelmed; UP TO THE HUB = to the extreme point; TO LIVE UP TO BLUE CHINA = to spend up to, or more than, one’s income; UP TO SAMPLE = of good quality, O.K. (q.v.); UP TO DICK = rich, generous, wise, quick, in good health, jolly, well-dressed: generic for the best; UP TO DICTIONARY = learned, UP TO THE GOSSIP (CACKLE, TRY-ON, etc.) = prepared for any attempt at imposition, roguery, or trickery (GROSE); UP TO SLUM (GROSE) = proficient in roguery, good as a TRADESMAN (q.v.); THAT’S UP AGAINST YOU = What do you say to that? That will knock the stuffing out of you; UP IN THE STIRRUPS = with plenty of money (GROSE).
1340. Tale of Gamelyn [SKEAT], 20, l. 535. Gamelyn VP WITH his staf.
1360. Alliterative Poems [E.E.T.S.]. [The excitement at Sodom is described, it is said that the] borough was all UP. Ibid., 67. [Abraham was] UP in the morning.
1387. TREVISA [HIGDEN, Lat. Chronicle], iii. 297. He UP with a staf and smoot.
1399. LANGLAND, Richard the Redeles [E.E.T.S.], 474. Mysscheff was VP.
1401. Towneley Mysteries (Camden Society), 221. UP with the tymbre.
c. 1430. The Destruction of Troy [E.E.T.S.], 7207.
| Þe tru VP, | |
| Agamynon þe grekys gedrit in þe fild. |
1528–37. Three Chapters of Letters Relating to the Suppression of the Monasteries [Camden Society], 245. [An abbot talks of coming UPWARDS; that is UP to London.]
1530. PALSGRAVE, Langue Francoyse, 417. [Palsgrave says that] is my lorde UP [is a peculiar English phrase].
1550. UDALL, Roister Doister [ARBER], 13. UP to the harde eares in love.
1592. MARLOWE, Edward the Second, i. 4. ’Tis treason to be UP against the king.
1593. SHAKESPEARE, Titus Andronicus, ii. 2.
| The hunt is UP. | |
| Ibid. (1594), The Rape of Lucrece, 1277. | |
| When went … Tarquin from hence, | |
| Madame, ere I was UP (repli’d the maide). | |
| Ibid. (1597), Richard III., v. 3, 7. | |
| K. Rich. UP with my tent there! Here will I lie to-night. |
c. 1605. HEYWOOD, If You Know Not Me, ii.
| You are all larkes this morning, | |
| VP with the sun: You are stirring earely. |
1607. DEKKER, Northward Ho, i. 3. May. Where is your mistress, villain? when went she abroad? Pren. … Why, as soon as she was UP, sir.
1608. ARMIN, A Nest of Ninnies (1842), 43. He UPS and tels [him].
1611. Bible, Psalm xii. 6 (Psalter). I will UP, saith the Lord.
c. 1620. FLETCHER, The Double Marriage, v. 1. Duke. What, is the city UP?
1635. QUARLES, Emblems, ii. 14.
| The true-bred gamester UPS afresh, and then | |
| Falls to’t again. |
1639. MASSINGER, The Unnatural Combat, ii. 1. Now my anger’s UP.
c. 1650. A. COWLEY, A Lover’s Chronicle, iii.
| Till UP in Arms my Passions rose, | |
| And cast away her Yoke. |
1672. RAY, Proverbs [BOHN], 61. UP with it, if it be but a gallon; it will ease your stomach.
1766. H. BROOKE, The Fool of Quality, i. 82. She UPS with her brawny arm, and gave Susy a douse on the side of the head.
1799. SCOTT, The Gray Brother. UP, UP, unhappy! haste, arise!
[?]. The Farmer’s Old Wife [CHILD, Ballads, viii. 258]. She UP with her pattens, and beat out their brains.
1837. R. H. BARHAM, The Ingoldsby Legends, II. 199. ‘The Lay of St. Cuthbert.’
| The Saint made a pause | |
| As uncertain, because | |
| He knew Nick is pretty well ‘UP’ in the laws. |
1843. DICKENS, Martin Chuzzlewit, xxvi. What are you UP to, old feller?
1848. THACKERAY, The Book of Snobs, xxi. He will scrape acquaintance with old Carabas before they make Ostend…. See, he is UP TO old Carabas already! I told you he would.
1849–61. MACAULAY, The History of England, xvi. In twenty-four hours all Devonshire was UP.
1849. ROBB, Streaks of Squatter Life, 31. ‘Well, hoss, we ’spect you to be right co-chunk UP TO THE HUB on them thar questions, and pour it inter the inimy in slashergaff style.’
1853. HALIBURTON (‘Sam Slick’), Wise Saws, 34. You mustn’t wander away, and you mustn’t declaim: if you do, their attention is off, the public see it, and you are UP A TREE.
1856. H. B. STOWE, Dred, I. xxiii. ‘For my part,’ said Abijah, grimly, ‘if things was managed my way, I should n’t commune with nobody that did n’t believe in election, UP TO THE HUB.’
1857. MACAULAY, Oliver Goldsmith. In his seventeenth year Oliver went UP to Trinity College, Dublin, as a sizar.
1863. JEAFFRESON, Live it Down, xxiv. I’ll finish my cigar in the betting room and hear what’s UP.
1863. GASKELL, Sylvia’s Lovers, xix. It was late, it is true, but on a May evening even country people keep UP till eight or nine o’clock.
1865. H. KINGSLEY, The Hillyars and the Burtons, xxviii. I made them UP STICK and take me home.
1866. SIR S. W. BAKER, In the Heart of Africa, 259. I saw that it was ALL UP WITH our animals.
1866. G. ELIOT, Felix Holt, Introduction. It was not so well for a lawyer to be over-honest, else he might not be UP TO other people’s tricks.
1868. OUIDA, Under Two Flags, v. UP TO every dodge on the cross that this iniquitous world could unfold.
1869. H. B. STOWE, Oldtown Folks, x. ‘Here you are, you little minx!’ said Miss Asphyxia. ‘What you UP TO now?’
1869. BLACKMORE, Lorna Doone, lxviii. Before I knew what he was UP TO, [he] said, ‘Arise, Sir John Rudd.’
1870. LE FANU, The Dragon Volant, i. I was posting UP to Paris.
d. 1878. BRYANT, Song of Marion’s Men.
| The woodland rings with laugh and shout, | |
| As if a hunt were UP. |
d. 1879. W. K. CLIFFORD, Lectures and Essays, II. 137. If an astronomer, observing the sun, were to record the fact that at the moment when a sun spot began to shrink there was a rap at his front door, we should know that he was not UP TO his work.
1885. The Field, 25 Sept. M‘Lawlay … got down with a fine put, and stood again one UP. Ibid. (1886), 20 Feb. Having found it and used it, you must UP STICKS and away in a day or two.
1886. MACDONALD, What’s Mine’s Mine, ch. xxxviii. Come, Mercy! You are UP TO a climb, I am sure!
1886. Daily News, 14 Oct. Streets that are UP.
1887. Standard, 18 Oct. When Fordham was UP those who were interested in a horse’s success felt confident.
1892. KIPLING, Barrack-Room Ballads, ‘Tommy.’ The publican ’e UP an’ sez, ‘We serve no red-coats here.’
1899. R. WHITEING, No. 5 John Street, viii. The Tailor. Oh, you don’t know! You should n’t argue if you ain’t UP TO things like that. Ibid., xxiii. ‘WHAT ’S UP now?’ says my myte, as was standin’ guard over me with a cutlash.
2. (Harrow).—In school. TO BE UP AT SECOND SCHOOL = to go to any one for work at 10 or 11 o’clock.
TO TIE UP, verb. phr. (venery).—To get with child, impregnate, SEW UP (q.v.). Also TO BE UP (or UP ONE’S FRILLS, or PETTICOATS) = to be piled in the act.
