up-and-down

[ uhp-uhn-doun ]

adjective

1. moving alternately up and down:

   the up-and-down swing of levers; an up-and-down tune.

2. having an uneven surface:

   up-and-down countryside.

3. changeable:

   up-and-down luck.

4. perpendicular or nearly so:

   a straight up-and-down hillside.

up-and-down

adjective

1. moving, executed, or formed alternately upwards and downwards
2. very steep; vertical

adverb

1. backwards and forwards (along)

Other Words From

• up-and-downness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of up-and-down¹

First recorded in 1610–20

Example Sentences

Did you share his feelings about the up-and-down fourth season of the show?

From The Daily Beast

The piece consists of two classic oil pumps, doing their usual up-and-down amid the passing tourists and New Yorkers.

From The Daily Beast

So you might have assumed that it would have been a straight “up-and-down” clean vote for McCain-Palin and repair to the bar.

From The Daily Beast

We had no more than got fairly between the straight-up-and-down walls of it than Piegan halted us with a warning hand.

From Project Gutenberg

It was five minutes to three, and there were fifty miles of caon and up-and-down trail over the divide to be covered.

From Project Gutenberg

"There iss no wrong time for seeing friends," Belle replied, in an up-and-down and very musical Welsh accent.

From Project Gutenberg

If you chop on a board steady the point of a knife with one hand and use an up-and-down motion with the other hand.

From Project Gutenberg

A single up-and-down purring note replied from the bushes on her right.

From Project Gutenberg