up v.
1. to begin, to push oneself forward, to say or do something; usu. in phr. ups and ..., e.g. he ups and starts saying.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Westward Hoe III i: Ile vp and tel them presently. | |
| Nest of Ninnies 43: He ups and tels his coming. | |
| Fool of Quality I 165: She ups with her brawny Arm, and gave Susy such a Douse on the Side of the Head. | |
| ‘Bozzy and Piozzi’ Works (1794) I 358: I thought this good as all Joe Millar’s jokes; And so I up, and told it to the folks. | |
| Sporting Mag. Dec. I 124/1: Then I up and told her that I was resolved to take it in. | |
| Essays on Irish Bulls 129: With that he ups with a lump of a two year old and lets drive at me. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Autobiog. 29: I immediately up with a crab which was heeled with iron, with which I beat him. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Clockmaker I 89: She jist up and told him to mind his own business. | |
| Hillsdale Standard (MI) 10 Oct. 1/2: So she ups with her apron and wipes her eyes. | |
| Shoreditch Obs. (London) 10 Dec. 3/5: He ups with a hairbrush and heaves it at me. | |
| Night in a Workhouse 46: Then they was goin’ to wallop me again, so I thought I’d cheek it out; so I up and told the master all about it. | |
| Gabriel Conroy I 100: Well, the baby up and died last night. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Bulletin (Sydney) 25 Sept. 4/4: Then Mr Carroll (who was on the defence) ‘ups and sez’ — ‘That’s right!’. | |
| Sporting Times 18 Jan. 2/2: He starts disinfecting his mother-in-law; / Till she ups and she gives him one smack in the jaw. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 3 Aug. 13/2: I ups an’ bashes ’er fair acrost the promontory with the ’andle of me closed umberella [...]. Now [...] can I get damages outer Sis for breakin’ me umberella with ’er nose [...] ? | |
| [perf. Marie Lloyd] William ’Enry Sarnders 🎵 For days I’d acted cool to ’im, at last I ups and speaks . | |
| It’s Up to You 14: In his estimation the Jones party was a small sout parcel of heated air, and tacks was eager to be up and doing him. | |
| Shadows of the Night in Illus. Police News 20 July 12/3: ‘It was during our yarns aboard [...] that Percy up and told me his bloomin’ ’istory’. | |
| Truth (Sydney) 16 Feb. 7/8: So he ups and sez he to her, / As he'll find her work to do. | |
| Cockney At Home 171: So I ups to him and I says in a kind o’ groaning voice: ‘You got a lot to whine about, you have.’. | |
| Somewhere in Red Gap 120: Darned if he didn’t up with this here air gun [...] and plunk me with a buckshot it carried. | |
| ‘The Winnipeg Whore’ in (1979) 241: Up jumps the bugger-boys an the sons of the bitches / So I ups and hi-tails out of that door. | |
| ‘The Boss Tramp’ in Hobo’s Hornbook 55: And when I got out of jail that day / She up and told me all. | |
| Western Champion (Qld) 12 Dec. 3/2: But he up an’ snorts the likes of me makes a public bar no place for his daughter. | |
 | ‘Cats on th Rooftops’ in Mess Songs & Rhymes of RAAF 1939-45 1: He walks around St Kilda with his doodle hanging out, / And when he sees a wench, it ups and hits him in the snout. | |
| Anything For a Laugh 206: I ups to him and says, ‘Desist, you is annoying me.’. | |
![[WI]](/static/img/flags/wi.png "West Indies") | Lonely Londoners 52: The Austrian ups and went back and tell Captain all what Moses say. | |
| Apprentices (1970) I iv: We’re just upping and going, thumbs up, like Donovan and Bob Dylan. | |
| Jones Men 141: Teddy ups with a roscoe and bumps Dooney. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Bend for Home 57: Then one day I upped and left for London. | |
| I, Fatty 48: Ten Gallon up and brained the Polack with a dead man of rum. | |
| Life 289: And so we upped and went to France. | |
| ‘Houston’ in ThugLit Mar. [ebook] He’d up and left East Texas a few months before. | |
| me-stepmums-too-fuckin-hot-mate at www.fakku.net 🌐 Me old man up an’ died less than a year later. |
2. fig. senses of to increase.
(a) (orig. US) to raise, to increase prices, charges etc.
| ‘Pearls Are a Nuisance’ in Spanish Blood (1946) 128: The price will be upped to ten grand. | |
| Man with the Golden Arm 60: I can’t help it when they up the price on me. | |
| Jimmy Brockett 187: In a week or so the price of shares had upped fifty bob. | |
| Awopbop. (1970) 13: Johnnie Ray himself upped his earnings to four thousand dollars a week and sold records by the million. | |
| Start in Life (1979) 46: Wainfleet, red in the face, ups it to four thousand five hundred. | |
| (con. 1941) Gunner 48: He surmised dourly that they’d ‘oop the fookin’ prices now you fookin’ lot’s ’ere.’. | |
| London Fields 70: Price, hysterically reduced, in normal times, but now brutally upped. | |
| Homeboy 263: They upped his meds today. | |
| Powder 174: The Medsin treatment had upped the stakes. |
(b) to promote.
| French Legionnaire 152: As is usual at the beginning of hostilities, the senior N.C.O.’s were ‘upped’ a grade. | |
| Never So Few (1958) 219: He rubs it to you by upping them other guys over you. | |
| Charlie Opera 38: It’s been like that since Nicky was upped to skipper. | |
| (con. 1973) Johnny Porno 339: The bosses figure Valentine is going places [...] Word is he’s being upped. |
(c) (orig. US) to improve, to boost.
![[Can]](/static/img/flags/can.png "Canada") | Globe and Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 28: You can up your morale all so easily [OED]. | |
| Living Black 209: Forget this bloody black power, up the black fist, up the blacks, because people laugh at that. | |
| Indep. Rev. 6 July 4: An opportunity to up his profile. |
(d) (US black) to be better, to beat.
| (ref. to 1950s) ‘Cupid’s Story’ in Vice Lords 77: That’s where my parents upped theirs . . . ’cause I know what’s going on. |
3. to have sexual intercourse with [the man puts his penis up the vagina].
| Sl. and Its Analogues. | |
| in Erotic Muse (1992) 129: For a tanner, you can up her. / Ten to one you get the pox. | |
| Anecdota Americana II 22: ’e ups me and ’e downs me, wipes ’is cock on me petticoat and goes off singing. |
4. to stab.
| Proc. Old Bailey 20 June 704: I saw the prisoner and his wife go to the door of the house where they lived—she called out, ‘Go in and up him’—just as I walked past the prisoner I see a little bit of a blade of a knife in his hand. |
5. (US) to enlist, i.e. join up.
| (con. WWII) Hollywoodland (1981) 223: I’m going down to the Army recruiting office and upping to fight a real war. |
6. (US black) to play music.
| Jives of Dr. Hepcat (1989) 1: Gator, take a knock down to those blow tops, who are upping some real crazy riffs and dropping them on a mellow kick and chappie the way they pull their lay hips our ship that they are from the land of razz ma tazz. |
7. in terms of contempt or dismissal; a euph. for fuck v. (3); usu. in excls. below; note also up your arse! excl.
| Call Me When the Cross Turns Over (1958) 48: You tell him, up him with a red-hot lemon. | |
| (con. 1944) Rats in New Guinea 16: ‘Up the old school [...] Yes,’ and he said this in a different tone, emphasising the word ‘up’, ‘Up the old school.’. |
8. (US) to hand over, to produce [SE come up with].
| Thief’s Primer 105: It’s so much easier for the company to go ahead and up $400 or $600 to get their checks back. | |
| Blueschild Baby 104: If he got a gun or knife and came to get his scratch I’d a upped it, but to call the police. |
9. (UK Und.) to beat up.
| Layer Cake 261: First Morty uppin Freddie then Jimmy gettin served. |
10. to mock [to ‘put two fingers up to’].
| Layer Cake 3: Double flash with your ill-gotten gains, really upping the old bill with ’em. |
In derivatives
(Aus.) a severe reprimand.
| Fatty 200: ‘That was the only time I ever saw Wayne really angry,’ he said. ‘It was the only genuine upping he ever gave us’. |
In phrases
(US black) to leave in a hurry, to run away.
| Sl. and Its Analogues. | |
| Jailhouse Jargon and Street Sl. [unpub. ms.]. |
In exclamations
a dismissive, contemptuous excl.
| Mint (1955) 100: We passed two trim airmen on the road, with shrieks of ‘Up yer.’. | |
| Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. 79: Upya!, a contemptuous ejaculation. | |
| ‘Bullshit’ in Mess Songs & Rhymes of the RAAF 23: So Airboard, Nuts to you! / And up you, N.E.A. | |
| Black City 55: ‘You’d steal a penny from a starving child.’ ‘Up you!’ said Flynn. | |
| (con. WWII) And Then We Heard The Thunder (1964) 431: ‘Upya!’ a digger shouts. ‘Bash it upya!’. | |
| Gone Fishin’ 35: I wouldn’t be seen dead talkin’ to yer. Drank all the beer an’ forgot me rum. Hup the lot o’ yez. | |
| Listening to America 220: She says, ‘Up you, you pig.’ Just screams it out. | |
| Glass Canoe 211: When someone didn't leave promptly on closing time he told him to get out. Naturally the guy said up ya, he'd never had to do such a thing before. | |
| (con. 1930s) Emerald Square 335: ‘Wait ’till Dad gets you,’ he said between his teeth. ‘Up you and Dad [...] and all his friends and relations in America, and if he has any in Ethiopia up ... them an’ all.’. |
(Aus.) a dismissive, contemptuous excl.
| Shiralee 101: Upya for the rent. | |
| Holy Smoke 54: Up you for the rent, mate! | |
| (con. 1941) Gunner 233: ‘Upya for the rent, old Mother-Judgea-Pricks,’ the youth squalled. | |
| Breaking Out 256: ‘Up yours for the rent!’ Celia riposted. | |
| Dinkum Aussie Dict. 55: Up you for the rent: Abusive term meaning go and get stuffed thus, ‘and when he put the hard word on me for a loan I told him, up you for the rent, mate.’. | |
| Lingo 198: The u-word may form part of an angry exhortation or insult, as in ‘up yours’ – an expression of derision, as in up yours for the rent, sport. | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 222: up you for the rhubarb season/for the winter Mildly abusive rejections, indicating you are talking rubbish, or you are rejected for a long time. |
1. (orig. US) an excl. of contempt.
| Gas-House McGinty 157: Yeah and up yours too. | |
| Naked and Dead 202: Up yours, Croft. | |
| Bold Saboteurs (1971) 151: ‘You’re kind of pretty.’ ‘Up yours,’ I replied. | |
| One Hundred Dollar Misunderstanding 38: I say, Francine up yers wiff a lawnmower, you git yer greasy hair the hell outa here. | |
| Dirty Laundry 36: ‘Do yourself a favor [...] Grab a bath.’ ‘Up yours.’. | |
| Tracks (Aus.) Aug. 3: And as for the dickhead who thinks that westy girls are ‘bushpigs’ we’d like to say ‘get fucked,’ and have a look at your own surfie chicks with their floppy brown tits trotting along behind you waxheads like drooling puppies. So up yours [Moore 1993]. | |
| (con. 1945) Touch and Go 174: Up yours, you fancy-talking fuckpot. | |
| Guardian G2 28 Jan. 4: When the British say [...] ‘Up yours, Delors,’ they don’t really mean it. | |
| Robbers (2001) 4: Well up yours sideways, asshole. | |
| ‘Blind Old Kate’ 🌐 When the bloke replied, ‘Up yours...’ Alf chinned him. | |
| Donnybrook [ebook] ‘Up yours, slit-eye. Ain’t telling you shit!’. | |
| Consolation 69: ‘Up yours,’ the kid said. |
2. attrib. use of sense 1.
| (con. WWII) Soldier Erect 90: I gave him the Up Yours signal with two fingers. | |
| Puberty Blues 114: Letting out a loud raspberry, she stabbed the air savagely with an ‘up-yours’ gesture. |