'Up and down' definitions:
Definition of 'up and down'
From: WordNet
adverb
Moving backward and forward along a given course; "he walked up and down the locker room"; "all up and down the Eastern seaboard"
adverb
Alternately upward and downward; "he eyed him up and down"
Definition of 'Up and down'
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]
Definition of 'Up and down'
From: GCIDE
- Down \Down\, adv. [For older adown, AS. ad[=u]n, ad[=u]ne, prop., from or off the hill. See 3d Down, and cf. Adown, and cf. Adown.]
- 1. In the direction of gravity or toward the center of the earth; toward or in a lower place or position; below; -- the opposite of up. [1913 Webster]
- 2. Hence, in many derived uses, as: (a) From a higher to a lower position, literally or figuratively; in a descending direction; from the top of an ascent; from an upright position; to the ground or floor; to or into a lower or an inferior condition; as, into a state of humility, disgrace, misery, and the like; into a state of rest; -- used with verbs indicating motion. [1913 Webster]
- It will be rain to-night. Let it come down. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- I sit me down beside the hazel grove. --Tennyson. [1913 Webster]
- And that drags down his life. --Tennyson. [1913 Webster]
- There is not a more melancholy object in the learned world than a man who has written himself down. --Addison. [1913 Webster]
- The French . . . shone down [i. e., outshone] the English. --Shak. (b) In a low or the lowest position, literally or figuratively; at the bottom of a descent; below the horizon; on the ground; in a condition of humility, dejection, misery, and the like; in a state of quiet. [1913 Webster]
- I was down and out of breath. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- The moon is down; I have not heard the clock. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- He that is down needs fear no fall. --Bunyan. [1913 Webster]
- 3. From a remoter or higher antiquity. [1913 Webster]
- Venerable men! you have come down to us from a former generation. --D. Webster. [1913 Webster]
- 4. From a greater to a less bulk, or from a thinner to a thicker consistence; as, to boil down in cookery, or in making decoctions. --Arbuthnot. [1913 Webster]
- Note: Down is sometimes used elliptically, standing for go down, come down, tear down, take down, put down, haul down, pay down, and the like, especially in command or exclamation.
- Down, therefore, and beg mercy of the duke. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- If he be hungry more than wanton, bread alone will down. --Locke. Down is also used intensively; as, to be loaded down; to fall down; to hang down; to drop down; to pay down.
- The temple of Her[`e] at Argos was burnt down. --Jowett (Thucyd.). Down, as well as up, is sometimes used in a conventional sense; as, down East.
- Persons in London say down to Scotland, etc., and those in the provinces, up to London. --Stormonth. [1913 Webster]
- Down helm (Naut.), an order to the helmsman to put the helm to leeward.
- Down on or Down upon (joined with a verb indicating motion, as go, come, pounce), to attack, implying the idea of threatening power. [1913 Webster]
- Come down upon us with a mighty power. --Shak.
- Down with, take down, throw down, put down; -- used in energetic command, often by people aroused in crowds, referring to people, laws, buildings, etc.; as, down with the king! "Down with the palace; fire it." --Dryden.
- To be down on, to dislike and treat harshly. [Slang, U.S.]
- To cry down. See under Cry, v. t.
- To cut down. See under Cut, v. t.
- Up and down, with rising and falling motion; to and fro; hither and thither; everywhere. "Let them wander up and down." --Ps. lix. 15. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'up and down'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- alternately,
- aplomb,
- at right angles,
- back and forth,
- backward and forward,
- backwards and forwards,
- by turns,
- completely,
- every other,
- exhaustively,
- hitch and hike,
- in and out,
- in rotation,
- in turns,
- inside out,
- make and break,
- off and on,
- perpendicularly,
- plumb,
- reciprocally,
- ride and tie,
- round and round,
- seesaw,
- sheer,
- sheerly,
- shuttlewise,
- square,
- to and fro,
- turn about