Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Up \Up\, adv. [AS. up, upp, ?p; akin to OFries. up, op, D. op,
OS. ?p, OHG. ?f, G. auf, Icel. ? Sw. upp, Dan. op, Goth. iup,
and probably to E. over. See {Over}.]
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}.
But up or down, By center or eccentric, hard to
tell. --Milton.
2. Hence, in many derived uses, specifically:
(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.
But they presumed to go up unto the hilltop.
--Num. xiv.
44.
I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth
up. --Ps.
lxxxviii. 15.
Up rose the sun, and up rose Emelye. --Chaucer.
We have wrought ourselves up into this degree of
Christian indifference. --Atterbury.
(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.
And when the sun was up, they were scorched.
--Matt. xiii.
6.
Those that were up themselves kept others low.
--Spenser.
Helen was up -- was she? --Shak.
Rebels there are up, And put the Englishmen unto
the sword. --Shak.
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.
Thou hast fired me; my soul's up in arms.
--Dryden.
Grief and passion are like floods raised in
little brooks by a sudden rain; they are quickly
up. --Dryden.
A general whisper ran among the country people,
that Sir Roger was up. --Addison.
Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for
any fate. --Longfellow.
(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.
As a boar was whetting his teeth, up comes a fox
to him. --L'Estrange.
(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.
Note: Some phrases of this kind are now obsolete; as, to
spend up (--Prov. xxi. 20); to kill up (--B. Jonson).
(e) Aside, so as not to be in use; as, to lay up riches;
put up your weapons.
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.
Up, up, my friend! and quit your books, Or surely
you 'll grow double. --Wordsworth.
{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.
(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]