'To be up to' definitions:

Definition of 'To be up to'

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