set up shop


Open a business, start a profession, as in Now that you've got your degree, where do you plan to set up shop? This idiom was first recorded about 1570.

Words Nearby set up shop

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

How to use set up shop in a sentence

  • Found he had set up shop in a business structure called the Southern Building.

    Turns about Town | Robert Cortes Holliday
  • And I set up shop almost next door to the chapel, and took the trade out of his mouth, and enjoyed myself finely for six months.

    The History of David Grieve | Mrs. Humphry Ward
  • A rough lout had set up shop there, with dressed poultry for sale.

    In the Days of the Guild | Louise Lamprey
  • The enclosed will help you to set up shop and to get and pay whatever is necessary.

  • When they had to run, they went instruments and tools in hand, and as soon as out of reach of the enemy set up shop on a stump.