go up
Britishverb
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(also preposition) to move or lead to or as if to a higher place or level; rise; increase
prices are always going up
the curtain goes up at eight o'clock
new buildings are going up all around us
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to be destroyed
the house went up in flames
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to go or return (to college or university) at the beginning of a term or academic year
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Be put up, as in New buildings are going up all over town .
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Rise; increase. For example, His temperature is going up at an alarming rate , or The costs of construction are going up all the time . [Late 1800s]
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Also, be gone up . Be destroyed, ruined, done for; also, die, be killed. For example, If we're not back in a week, you'll know we've gone up , or In spite of our efforts, the plans for a new library are gone up . [ Slang ; mid-1800s]
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Forget one's lines on the stage or make a mistake in performing music. For example, Don't worry, you know your part and you won't go up , or He went up in the last movement of the sonata . [ Slang ; 1960s] Also see the subsequent idioms beginning with go up .
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Go up 3-1, and it would be tough for Dallas to win three in a row.
From Seattle Times • May 8, 2023
He gave them a directive, an action word: Go up there and stop it.
From Salon • Dec. 2, 2021
“Just keep pressing them. Go up by 50, if we can. That’s the mindset I feel like all of us had.”
From Washington Times • May 8, 2017
Go up to your attic right now, or down to your basement, or to your late parents’ storage unit that you still pay for each month even though you’re unfamiliar with its exact contents.
From Washington Post • Oct. 25, 2015
“You think there are no prisoners here? Take a look at that fence! Go up there, and ask the people on the other side how long they’ve been waiting. Go on!”
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
