Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary

1 PHRASE If you feel up to doing something, you are well enough to do it. □  Those patients who were up to it could move to the adjacent pool. □  His fellow-directors were not up to running the business without him.

2 PHRASE To be up to something means to be secretly doing something that you should not be doing. [INFORMAL ] □  Why did you need a room unless you were up to something? □  They must have known what their father was up to.

3 PHRASE If you say that it is up to someone to do something, you mean that it is their responsibility to do it. □  It was up to him to make it right, no matter how long it took. □  I'm sure I'd have spotted him if it had been up to me.

4 PHRASE Up until or up to are used to indicate the latest time at which something can happen, or the end of the period of time that you are referring to. □  Please feel free to call me any time up until half past nine at night. □  Up to 1989, the growth of per capita income averaged 1 per cent per year.

5 PHRASE You use up to to say how large something can be or what level it has reached. □  Up to twenty thousand students paid between five and six thousand dollars. □  It could be up to two years before the process is complete.

6 PHRASE If you say that something is not up to much , you mean that it is of poor quality. [BRIT , INFORMAL ] □  My own souffles aren't up to much.

7 PHRASE If someone or something is up for election, review, or discussion, they are about to be considered. □  A third of the government are up for re-election.

8 PHRASE If you are up against something, you have a very difficult situation or problem to deal with. □  The chairwoman is up against the greatest challenge to her position. □  They were up against a good team but did very well.

9up to your ears → see ear

10up to par → see par

11up to scratch → see scratch

➌ up /ʌ p/ (ups , upping , upped )

1 VERB If you up something such as the amount of money you are offering for something, you increase it. □ [V n] He upped his offer for the company.

2 VERB If you up and leave a place, you go away from it, often suddenly or unexpectedly. □ [V and v] One day he just upped and left.

u p-and-co ming ADJ [ADJ n] Up-and-coming people are likely to be successful in the future. □  …his readiness to share the limelight with young, up-and-coming stars. □  He used the League Cup as a proving ground for up-and-coming players.

up|beat /ʌ pbiːt/ (upbeats )

1 ADJ [usu ADJ n] If people or their opinions are upbeat , they are cheerful and hopeful about a situation. [INFORMAL ] □  The Home Secretary gave an upbeat assessment of the campaign so far. □  Neil's colleagues say he was actually in a joking, upbeat mood.

2 N‑COUNT In music, the upbeat is the beat before the first beat of the bar.

up|braid /ʌpbre I d/ (upbraids , upbraiding , upbraided ) VERB If you upbraid someone, you tell them that they have done something wrong and criticize them for doing it. [FORMAL ] □ [V n] His mother summoned him, upbraided him, wept and prayed. □ [V n + for ] She was upbraided for the inaccuracies in her autobiography.

up|bring|ing /ʌ pbr I ŋ I ŋ/ N‑UNCOUNT Your upbringing is the way that your parents or carers treat you and the things that they teach you when you are growing up. □  Martin's upbringing shaped his whole life. □  Sam's mother said her son had a good upbringing and schooling.