Related Words
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to hang up one's fiddle
To desist; to give up. When a man loses his temper and ain't cool, he might as well hang up his fid...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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bail up
v. 1) To secure the head of a cow in abail for milking. 2) By transference, to stop travellers in ...
Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris
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hang up
v. to tie up a horse. 1860. W. Kelly, `Life in Victoria,' p. 49 [Footnote]: «In Melbourne there a...
Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris
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log up
v. to make a log-support for thewindlass. 1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Miner's Right,' c. v. p. 54: «W...
Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris
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ready up
v. See quotation. 1893. `The Age,' Nov. 25, p. 13, col. 2: « Mr. Purees: A statement has been mad...
Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris
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roll up
v. intr. to gather, to assemble. 1887. J. Farrell, `How he died,' p. 26: «The miners all rolled u...
Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris
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roll-up
n. a meeting. See preceding verb. 1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Miner's Right,' c. xxxv. p. 308: «Makin...
Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris
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stick-up
v. tr. 1) The regular word for theaction of bushrangers stopping passers-by on the highway androbbi...
Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris
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sticker-up
I. n. sc. a bushranger. 1879. W. J. Barry, `Up and Down,' p. 197: «They had only just been liber...
Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris
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stock-up
v. complete the number of animalson a station, so that it may carry its full complement. 1890. Rol...
Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris
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to blow up
To scold, to abuse, either in speaking or writing. A vulgar expression borrowed from sailor's langua...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to brisk up
To come up with life and speed; to take an erect or bold attitude.--Webster. An Americanism. ...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to brush up
To prepare oneself; to take courage. When Miss Mary came, I brushed up, and was determined to have ...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to chaw up
To use up; demolish. I heerd Tom Jones swar he'd chaw me up, if an inch of me was found in them dig...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to crack up
To crack, i. e. to brag or boast, is a verb common in old authors, from Chaucer downwards, and still...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to cut up
1) To criticise with severity; as, he was severely cut up in the newspapers. Some correspondent ask...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to fetch up
To stop suddenly. This sense of the word is not noticed in the English dictionaries, nor by Webster....
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to flare up
To blaze out; to get excited suddenly; to get into a passion. It is expected that this grand discus...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to hold up
In allusion to the weather, to clear up, after a storm; to stop raining. Though nice and dark the p...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to knock up
To wear out with fatigue.--Halliwell. It is the constant labour, unvaried by the least relaxation, ...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to pony up
A vulgar phrase, meaning to pay over money. Ex. 'Come, Mr. B----, pony up that account;' that is, pa...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to row up
To punish with words; to rebuke. It is an essential Westernism, and derived from the practice of mak...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to shut up
To hold one's tongue. A vulgar expression. Jones was singing, "'Tis the Star Spangled Banner;" but ...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to slick up
To dress up; to make fine. Mrs. Flyer was slicked up for the occasion, in the snuff-colored silk sh...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to spruce up
To dress oneself sprucely. In Sussex (England) they say, to sprug up, in the same sense. To-night w...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to square up
To put oneself in an attitude fit for boxing. Provincial in various parts of England.--Halliwell. Y...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to stive up
To stuff up close.--Johnson. Things are a good deal stived up. People's minds are sour, and I don't...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to tip up
To raise up one end, as of a cart, so that the contents may pass out.--Worcester. Both this and the ...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to use up
To discomfit; destroy. Grose has this word, which he calls a military one, meaning killed. I have p...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to wind up
To close up; to give the quietus to an antagonist in a debate; to effectually demolish. John Bell, ...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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blow-up
A quarrel; a dispute. A common expression, used in familiar conversation. There was a regular blow-...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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build up
To erect; and metaphorically to establish, to found. In this manner it was thought we should sooner...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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buttoning up
A Wall street phrase. When a broker has bought stock on speculation and it falls suddenly on his han...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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chock up
Close, tight; said of a thing which fits closely to another. When the bells ring, the wood-work the...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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done up
Ruined by gaming and extravagance.--Grose. We use it colloquially, where a person is ruined in any w...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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let up
A let up is a release; a relief. An expression borrowed from pugilists. There was no let up in the ...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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pick-up
A pick-up, or a pick-up dinner, is a dinner made up of such fragments of cold meats as remain from f...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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up to
To be up to a thing,' is to understand it. A common English and American vulgarism. Have you ever t...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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A glossary of provincial and local words used in England by Francis Grose
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to ape one's betters
To imitate one's superiors. The negroes are good singers; they are an imitative race, and it is not...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to bark one's shins
To knock the skin off the shins by stumbling or striking against something. Mr. Hortshorne calls th...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to cut one's stick
To be off, to leave immediately and go with all speed. A vulgar expression, and often heard. It is a...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to feather one's nest
To collect riches together; alluding to birds which collect feathers, among other materials, for mak...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to find one's self
To provide for one's self. When a laborer engages to provide himself with victuals, he is said to fi...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to fix one's flint
is a phrase taken from backwoods life, and means the same as to settle; to do for; to dish. "Take i...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to raise one's bristles
To excite one's anger. I cane to Congress in 1827, as honestly the friend of Gen. Jackson as any ma...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to run one's face
To make use of one's credit. 'To run one's face for a thing,' is to get it on tick. Any one who can...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to settle one's hash
To properly punish one. We also say, 'to settle his business;' 'to fix his flint.' Brave Prudhoe tr...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to shoot one's grandmother
is a common though vulgar phrase in New England, and means to be mistaken, or to be disappointed; to...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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above one's bend
Out of one's power; beyond reach. A common expression in the Western States. I shall not attempt to...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to be on one's taps
is to be always ready on one's feet, literally on one's shoes; a metaphor borrowed from the shoemake...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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on one's own hook
A phrase much used in familiar language, denoting on one's own account; as, 'He is doing business on...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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A glossary of provincial and local words used in England by Francis Grose
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bailing-up pen
n. place for fastening up cattle. 1889. R. M. Praed, `Romance of Station,' vol. i. c. ii.[`Eng. Di...
Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris
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full up of
adj. (slang) sick and tired of.«Full on,» and «full of,» are other forms. 1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `...
Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris
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pick-it-up
n. a boys' name for the Diamondbird (q.v.). 1896. G. A. Keartland, `Horne Expedition in CentralAus...
Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris
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the jig is up
i. e. the game is up; it is all over with me. The time was when I could cut pigeon wings, and perfo...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to break up land
To plough up land that has lain long as a meadow, is the sense as understood in the United States. I...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to cut up shines
To cut capers, play tricks. A wild bull of the prairies was cutting up shines at no great distance,...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to keep it up
To prolong a debauch. 'He kept it up finely last night;' a metaphor drawn from a game of shuttlecock...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to pull up stakes
To pack up one's furniture or baggage preparatory to a removal; to remove. If this stranger is to r...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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catawamptiously chawed up
Completely demolished, utterly defeated. One of the ludicrous monstrosities in which the vulgar lang...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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up-a-day
A fondling expression of a nurse to a child, when she takes it up in her arms, or lifts it over some...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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up to snuff
To be flash; to be shrewd. Up to snuff and a pinch above it, is a common cant phrase.--Grose. Both t...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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up to trap
Knowing; shrewd. English and American. Phrenology is a little bit dangerous. It is only fit for an ...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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A glossary of provincial and local words used in England by Francis Grose
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to row up salt river
is a common phrase, used generally to signify political defeat. The distance to which a party is row...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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hurry up the cakes
i.e. Be quick; look alive. This phrase, which has lately got into vogue, originated in the common Ne...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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up to the hub
To the extreme point. The figure is that of a vehicle sunk in the mud up to the hub of the wheels, w...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to have one's fat in the fire
is to have one's plans frustrated. A vulgar expression borrowed from the vocabulary of the kitchen. ...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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by the skin of one's teeth
When a man has made a narrow escape from any dilemma, it is a common remark to say, that he has save...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to bark up the wrong tree
A common expression at the West, denoting that a person has mistaken his object, or is pursuing the ...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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to stand up to the rack
A metaphorical expression of the same meaning as the like choice phrases, 'to come to the scratch;' ...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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A glossary of provincial and local words used in England by Francis Grose