English
up
see also: UP
Pronunciation
  • (British) enPR: ŭp, IPA: /ʌp/, [ɐʔp]
  • (America) enPR: ŭp, IPA: /ʌp/, [ʌp̚]
  • (Australia) IPA: /ap/, [äp]
Adverb

up (not comparable)

  1. Away from the surface of the Earth or other planet; in opposite direction to the downward pull of gravity.
    I looked up and saw the airplane overhead.
  2. (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.
    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.
  3. 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.
  4. North.
    I will go up to New York to visit my family this weekend.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. Aside, so as not to be in use.
    to lay up riches; put up your weapons
  8. (rail transport) Traditional term for the direction leading to the principal terminus, towards milepost zero.
  9. (sailing) Against the wind or current.
  10. (Cartesian graph) In a positive vertical direction.
  11. (cricket) Relatively close to the batsman.
    The bowler pitched the ball up.
  12. (hospitality, US) Without additional ice.
    Would you like that drink up or on ice?
  13. (UK, academia) Towards Cambridge or Oxford.
    She's going up to read Classics this September.
    • 1867, John Timbs, Lives of wits and humourists, page 125
      The 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, page 112
      Others 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, page 79
      A precocious mathematician, Babbage was already well versed in the Continental mathematical notations when he went up to Cambridge.
Synonyms
  • (away from the centre of the Earth) alley oop (rare)
Antonyms
  • (away from the centre of the Earth) down
  • (louder) down
  • (higher in pitch) down
  • (towards the principal terminus) down
Translations Translations
  • German: ver-, er-
  • Russian: на ча́сти
Translations Translations Preposition
  1. Toward the top of.
    The cat went up the tree.   They walk up the steps.
  2. 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.   I felt something crawling up my arm.
  3. Further along (in any direction).
    Go up the street until you see the sign.
  4. From south to north of
    • 2012 October 31, David M. Halbfinger, "," 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.
  5. From the mouth towards the source (of a river or waterway).
  6. (vulgar slang) Of a man: having sex with.
    Phwoar, look at that bird. I'd love to be up her.
  7. (colloquial) At (a given place, especially one imagined to be higher or more remote from a central location).
    • 2016, Alan Moore, Jerusalem, Liveright 2016, p. 94:
      “I'll tell you how I got on in the fight if I should see you up the Smokers.”
Antonyms
  • (toward the top of) down
Translations
  • French: vers le haut, go up: monter
  • German: hinauf, hoch
  • Portuguese: alto, no alto, para o alto
  • Russian: вве́рх
  • Spanish: hacia arriba
Translations Adjective

up (not comparable)

  1. Awake.
    I can’t believe it’s 3 a.m. and you’re still up.
  2. Finished, to an end
    Time is up!
  3. In a good mood.
    I’m feeling up today.
  4. Willing; ready.
    If you are up for a trip, let’s go.
  5. Next in a sequence.
    Smith is up to bat.
  6. Happening; new.
    What is up with that project at headquarters?
  7. Facing upwards; facing toward the top.
    Put the notebook face up on the table.
    Take a break and put your feet up.
  8. Larger; greater in quantity.
    Sales are up from last quarter.
  9. Ahead; leading; winning.
    The home team were up by two goals at half-time.
  10. Standing.
    Get up and give her your seat.
  11. On a higher level.
    The new ground is up.
    • 1925, Walter Anthony and Tom Reed (titles), Rupert Julian (director), The Phantom of the Opera, silent movie
      ‘The Phantom! The Phantom is up from the cellars again!’
  12. Available; made public.
    The new notices are up as of last Tuesday.
  13. (poker, postnominal) Said of the higher-ranking pair in a two pair.
    AAKK = aces up
    QQ33 = queens up
  14. Well-informed; current.
    I’m not up on the latest news. What’s going on?
  15. (computing) Functional; working.
    Is the server back up?
  16. anchor Adj_railway(of a railway line or train) Traveling towards a major terminus.
    The London train is on the up line.
  17. Headed, or designated to go, upward, as an escalator, stairway, elevator etc.
  18. (bar tending) Chilled and strained into a stemmed glass.
    A Cosmopolitan is typically served up.
  19. (slang) Erect.
  20. (of the Sun or Moon) Above the horizon, in the sky (i.e. during daytime or night-time)
    • 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 4
      I 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.
  21. (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.
  22. (horse-racing) Riding the horse; mounted.
Antonyms
  • (facing upwards) down
  • (on a higher level) down
  • (computing: Functional) down
  • (traveling towards a major terminus) down
Translations Translations Translations
  • Portuguese: bem
Translations Translations Translations
  • German: hoch
  • Portuguese: virado para cima
  • Spanish: hacia arriba
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations
  • French: au garde-à-vous
Noun

up (uncountable)

  1. (uncountable) The direction opposed to the pull of gravity.
    Up is a good way to go.
  2. (countable) A positive thing.
    I hate almost everything about my job. The only up is that it's so close to home.
  3. An upstairs room of a two story house.
    She lives in a two-up two-down.
Antonyms
  • (direction opposed to the pull of gravity) down
Related terms Translations Verb

up (ups, present participle upping; past and past participle upped)

  1. (transitive, colloquial) To increase or raise.
    If we up the volume, we'll be able to make out the details.
    We upped anchor and sailed away.
  2. (transitive, colloquial) To promote.
    It wasn’t long before they upped him to Vice President.
  3. (intransitive) To act suddenly, usually with another verb.
    He just upped and quit.
    He upped and punched that guy.
    • 1991, Michael Jackson, Who Is It (Michael Jackson song)
      And she didn't leave a letter, she just upped and ran away.
  4. (intransitive) To ascend; to climb up.
    • 1863, Charles Kingsley, The Water Babies, page 10
      "Will ye up, lass, and ride behind me?".
  5. (computing, slang, transitive) To upload.
    100 new apps and games have just been upped.
Synonyms Translations
UP
Proper noun
  1. Initialism of Upper Peninsula
  2. (India) Initialism of Uttar Pradesh
    • 2017, Sunil Khilnani, Incarnations, Penguin 2017, p. 402:
      To study old photographs from UP villages like the one where Ram Dass lived is to be reminded of how rural history writes upon the body.
  3. (software) Initialism of Unified Process


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