heads up

See synonyms for heads up on Thesaurus.com
interjection
  1. (used to call attention to an impending danger or the need for immediate alertness.)

Origin of heads up

1
First recorded in 1940–45

Words Nearby heads up

Other definitions for heads-up (2 of 2)

heads-up
[ hedz-uhp ]

adjective
  1. quick to grasp a situation and take advantage of opportunities; alert; resourceful.

noun
  1. a warning in advance: sending a heads-up to the Pentagon about possible attacks.

Origin of heads-up

2
First recorded in 1945–50

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use heads up in a sentence

  • Theyll hang our heads up, and theyll burn the Silver Fleece and bootcher all hands, drifted in the far, slow cry of Mr. Scurlock.

    Cursed | George Allan England
  • For I'm werry highly connected, as a gent, sir, can understand; And my family hold their heads up with the very furst in the land.

  • If these people around here could get their heads up long enough from grubbing in the muck they wouldn't stay here over night.

    The Major | Ralph Connor
  • The shipping clerk, as he heads up his barrels and boxes, can be sending out and up his current of prayer.

  • A few of the flock watched him, but most of them stood with their heads up the slope facing the wildly bounding stones.

    Watched by Wild Animals | Enos A. Mills

British Dictionary definitions for heads up

heads up

noun
  1. mainly US and Canadian a tip-off or small amount of information given in advance

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 heads up

heads up

A warning to watch out for potential danger, as in Heads up, that tree is coming down now! The expression is generally in the form of an interjection. [c. 1940]

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