stand-up, adj. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

stand-up adj.

[note SE stand up and be counted, to make one’s presence felt]

1. of a fight, determined, uninhibited, conducted by the rules; lit. face-to-face.

1823		Observer 26 May 2: The umpires called out to Belcher [following a foul], and told him, ‘It was a stand-up fight’ and Neat must take care what he was about’.
1859		Peter Parley’s Annual 268: You are a cowardly ruffian, and no Englishman; you are afraid of a fair stand up fight.
1876		C.A. Rice Boy Mill 104: Hobhouse, you had much better give him a hiding in a fair stand-up fight : depend upon it.
1879		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 8 Nov. 3/4: Nolan believes in a square, stand-up-revolver-roaring-fight.
1885		J.S. Borlase Blue Cap, the Bushranger 97/1: Alick and Charlie had a bit of a barney, which ended up a regular, stand-up fight.
1906		T. Roosevelt Selections 140: To this day he thinks a good stand-up fight does boys a world of good.
1939		F.A. Waterhouse Sands of Destint 88: The Arabs [...] were thirsting for a first-rate stand-up fight, and we had cheated them of it.

2. (US Und.) honest, trustworthy, dependable.

1841		Dickens Barnaby Rudge (2003) 329: He was a queer subject altogether [...] one of the finest, stand-up men, you ever see.
1930		Dly News (NY) 7 Mar. 69/2: He’s smart, that Johnson. A stand up straight guy.
1955		B. Schulberg On the Waterfront (1964) 229: ‘He’s stand-up.’ [...] Stand-up was the highest praise in the waterfront book.
1966		J. Mills Panic in Needle Park (1971) 198: You’ll love these people, too. They’re real good stand-up people.
1974		G.V. Higgins Cogan’s Trade (1975) 23: He’s basically all right. And he’s very, very stand-up.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 20: They gonna need distributors with brains and with heart — stand-up motherfuckers.
1986		J. Ellroy Suicide Hill 132: I've been casing this score, but I didn't know how stand-up you guys were. Are you with me?’.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 175: The Sings were standup, having the Golden Boar goods on them was superfluous insurance.
1992		Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 34: Solid Con also Stand-Up Convict A trustworthy and well respected inmate. The prison code of ethics places a solid con near the top of the prison population.
2001		C. Stella Eddie’s World 37: He could be a stand-up con and spend the next fifteen years in the joint, or he could be a survivor and get out in two.
2003		A.N. LeBlanc Random Family 163: He wanted a wife to help him through his sentence, a pretty enough stand-up girl.
2010		(con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 126: He was stand-up, if that’s what you were worried about. Played dumb as a stump.
2014		D.B. Flowers Bangs 282: Lisano was a stand-up cop and superb influence on the younger troopers.
2018		‘Aidan Truhen’ Price You Pay 15: [Y]ou’re just allowing stand-up citizens to turn an existing downside of the personal economy into a revenue stream.
2019		N. Walker Cherry 44: ‘Tommy just got out of prison [...] Tommy’s a real stand-up guy’.
2020		(con. 1991-94) W. Boyle City of Margins 27: ‘Sal and Frankie.’ ‘Stand-up guys’.

In compounds

stand-up guy (n.) (also stand-up, stand-up boy, ...broad, ...dude, ...kid, stand-by guy)

(US) an honest, dependable person, one who ‘stands up to be counted’; criminal use suggests one who will not break under questioning.

1929		Hostetter & Beesley It’s a Racket! 239: Stand Up —To have the courage of one’s convictions; courageous; e.g. ‘He’s a stand-up guy.’ ‘He’ll stand up no matter what pressure they put on him.’.
1934		S. Walker City Editor 221: [T]he definition which Don Skene, the boxing writer, gives of a gentleman—‘a stand-up guy who will fight’.
1955		Q. Reynolds Police Headquarters (1956) 282: Is Lipsius a stand-up guy?
1956		N. Algren Walk on the Wild Side 60: Tex, you’re a real stand-up kid.
1959		Murtagh & Harris Who Live In Shadow (1960) 96: He was solid. He was ‘a stand-up boy’.
1968		K. Brasselle Cannibals 39: This is the greatest stand-up guy you’ll ever run across.
1972		G.V. Higgins Friends of Eddie Coyle 87: From what I hear, a genuine stand-by guy.
1977		E. Bunker Animal Factory 45: Tony Bork . . . not a tough guy but personable and known as a ‘stand-up dude’.
1982		P. Theroux London Embassy 85: I took him for a clean, stand-up guy!
1984		J. Ellroy Because the Night 34: ‘I've published several monographs on my findings, without ever violating the anonymity of my patients. In criminal parlance I'm a “stand-up guy”’.
1985		N. Pileggi Wiseguy (2001) 205: There are no standup guys in the drug trade.
1990		M. McAlary Crack War (1991) 196: Todd Scott was no more of a stand-up guy than that rat Perry Bellamy.
1998		L. Stringer Grand Central Winter (1999) 165: The kind of stand-up guy that he has come to recognize as worthy of his full trust and loyalty.
1998		(con. 1986) G. Pelecanos Sweet Forever 143: Anthony’s a stand-up kid.
2006		G. Iles Turning Angel 109: You ask me, Drew Elliott is a stand-up guy.
2011		J.J. DeCeglie Drawing Dead [ebook] He was a stand-up guy and a good friend.
2012		T. Robinson ‘So Long, Johnnie Scumbag’ in Dirty Words [ebook] ‘Sharkie was a standup broad. She didn't cry foul or nothin’’.
2014		T.I. ‘Jet Fuel’ 🎵 But it's not so much who I am as what I am / A stand up guy, man of respect.
2017		D. Winslow The Force [ebook] ‘Stand-up guys [...] don’t get bent over’.

SE in slang uses

In compounds

stand-up job (n.)

see stand-up n. (3)

stand-up supper (n.) [SE stand-up supper, a late supper at which those invited ate while on their feet; such a supper was, de facto, less grand (and less expensive to cater) than a full-scale sit-down meal]

(UK society) anything mean or niggardly.

1909

(ref. to 1860) in J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era.