shape-up
or shape·up
an act or instance of shaping up.
a former method of hiring longshoremen in which the applicants appeared daily at the docks and a union hiring boss chose those who would be given work.
Origin of shape-up
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use shape-up in a sentence
But the FDA allowed Spinal Solutions to continue selling its products while the company tried to shape up, court filings show.
Patients Screwed in Spine Surgery ‘Scam’ | The Center for Investigative Reporting | November 3, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTSo 2018 will shape up as another wipeout, and the Senate will flip back to the GOP again.
That, he passed down to his son, around whom a campaign to draft him for the Senate had begun to shape up.
The first is to help the Ukrainians shape up as a condition for Western military and financial aid.
That's love, and while they'd probably tell me to shape up and be a better man, that's love too.
How 'The Little Way of Ruthie Leming' Taught Me It's OK to Love My Hometown | Justin Green | April 10, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
Also shape up the "false" extensions of these pieces which are to be fastened below the lower frame at the corners.
Mission Furniture | H. H. WindsorI heard Joe telling Pinky the other day that youd ought to shape up well for next year.
The Turner Twins | Ralph Henry BarbourHis butter-ball body was elongating, and his huge feet and legs were beginning to shape up.
Lad: A Dog | Albert Payson TerhuneIf things shape up sobut the fact is, I can promise nothing, say nothingat present.
The Bail Jumper | Robert J. C. SteadBut maybe—we'll see how things shape up—maybe I'll send you back home.
Blow The Man Down | Holman Day
British Dictionary definitions for shape up
informal to proceed or develop satisfactorily
informal to develop a definite or proper form
US and Canadian (formerly) a method of hiring dockers for a day or shift by having a union hiring boss select them from a gathering of applicants
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with shape-up
Turn out, develop; see take shape.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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