- Enter a word for the dictionary definition.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Up \Up\ ([u^]p), adv. [AS. up, upp, [=u]p; akin to OFries. up, op, D. op, OS. [=u]p, OHG. [=u]f, G. auf, Icel. & Sw. upp, Dan. op, Goth. iup, and probably to E. over. See Over.] [1913 Webster] 1. Aloft; on high; in a direction contrary to that of gravity; toward or in a higher place or position; above; -- the opposite of down. [1913 Webster] But up or down, By center or eccentric, hard to tell. --Milton. [1913 Webster] 2. Hence, in many derived uses, specifically: [1913 Webster] (a) From a lower to a higher position, literally or figuratively; as, from a recumbent or sitting position; from the mouth, toward the source, of a river; from a dependent or inferior condition; from concealment; from younger age; from a quiet state, or the like; -- used with verbs of motion expressed or implied. [1913 Webster] But they presumed to go up unto the hilltop. --Num. xiv. 44. [1913 Webster] I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up. --Ps. lxxxviii. 15. [1913 Webster] Up rose the sun, and up rose Emelye. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster] We have wrought ourselves up into this degree of Christian indifference. --Atterbury. [1913 Webster] (b) In a higher place or position, literally or figuratively; in the state of having arisen; in an upright, or nearly upright, position; standing; mounted on a horse; in a condition of elevation, prominence, advance, proficiency, excitement, insurrection, or the like; -- used with verbs of rest, situation, condition, and the like; as, to be up on a hill; the lid of the box was up; prices are up. [1913 Webster] And when the sun was up, they were scorched. --Matt. xiii. 6. [1913 Webster] Those that were up themselves kept others low. --Spenser. [1913 Webster] Helen was up -- was she? --Shak. [1913 Webster] Rebels there are up, And put the Englishmen unto the sword. --Shak. [1913 Webster] His name was up through all the adjoining provinces, even to Italy and Rome; many desiring to see who he was that could withstand so many years the Roman puissance. --Milton. [1913 Webster] Thou hast fired me; my soul's up in arms. --Dryden. [1913 Webster] Grief and passion are like floods raised in little brooks by a sudden rain; they are quickly up. --Dryden. [1913 Webster] A general whisper ran among the country people, that Sir Roger was up. --Addison. [1913 Webster] Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate. --Longfellow. [1913 Webster] (c) To or in a position of equal advance or equality; not short of, back of, less advanced than, away from, or the like; -- usually followed by to or with; as, to be up to the chin in water; to come up with one's companions; to come up with the enemy; to live up to engagements. [1913 Webster] As a boar was whetting his teeth, up comes a fox to him. --L'Estrange. [1913 Webster] (d) To or in a state of completion; completely; wholly; quite; as, in the phrases to eat up; to drink up; to burn up; to sum up; etc.; to shut up the eyes or the mouth; to sew up a rent. [1913 Webster] Note: Some phrases of this kind are now obsolete; as, to spend up (--Prov. xxi. 20); to kill up (--B. Jonson). [1913 Webster] (e) Aside, so as not to be in use; as, to lay up riches; put up your weapons. [1913 Webster] Note: Up is used elliptically for get up, rouse up, etc., expressing a command or exhortation. "Up, and let us be going." --Judg. xix. 28. [1913 Webster] Up, up, my friend! and quit your books, Or surely you 'll grow double. --Wordsworth. [1913 Webster] It is all up with him, it is all over with him; he is lost. The time is up, the allotted time is past. To be up in, to be informed about; to be versed in. "Anxious that their sons should be well up in the superstitions of two thousand years ago." --H. Spencer. To be up to. (a) To be equal to, or prepared for; as, he is up to the business, or the emergency. [Colloq.] (b) To be engaged in; to purpose, with the idea of doing ill or mischief; as, I don't know what he's up to. [Colloq.] To blow up. (a) To inflate; to distend. (b) To destroy by an explosion from beneath. (c) To explode; as, the boiler blew up. (d) To reprove angrily; to scold. [Slang] To bring up. See under Bring, v. t. To come up with. See under Come, v. i. To cut up. See under Cut, v. t. & i. To draw up. See under Draw, v. t. To grow up, to grow to maturity. Up anchor (Naut.), the order to man the windlass preparatory to hauling up the anchor. Up and down. (a) First up, and then down; from one state or position to another. See under Down, adv. Fortune . . . led him up and down. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster] (b) (Naut.) Vertical; perpendicular; -- said of the cable when the anchor is under, or nearly under, the hawse hole, and the cable is taut. --Totten. Up helm (Naut.), the order given to move the tiller toward the upper, or windward, side of a vessel. Up to snuff. See under Snuff. [Slang] What is up? What is going on? [Slang] [1913 Webster]