up a stormmod. with an enthusiastic
spirit. (Note syntax in examples. Usually
with sing, dance, talk, blow, play.) We
talked up a storm until past midnight.
Can’t she dance up a storm?
up a tree 1. mod. confused; without an an-
swer to a problem; in difficulty. This
whole business has me up a tree. I’m up
a tree, and I need some help. 2. mod. al-
cohol intoxicated. Only two glasses of
booze and he was up a tree for sure. My
buddy here is up a tree and needs a crash
for the night.
upbeatmod. bright and cheery; not nega-
tive. (Compare this with downbeat.)
I’d prefer to open the conference with an
upbeat topic. That topic is not upbeat.
This piece of music has an upbeat f la-
vor to it.
upchuck[“@ptS@k] 1. tv. & in. to vomit
(something). Wally upchucked his
whole dinner. Who upchucked over
there? 2. n. vomit. Is that upchuck on
your shoe? There is still some upchuck
on the bathroom f loor.
up for grabs 1. mod. available for anyone;
not yet claimed. It’s up for grabs. Every-
thing is still very chancy. I don’t know
who will get it. It’s up for grabs. 2. mod.
in total chaos. This is a madhouse. The
whole place is up for grabs. When the
market crashed, the whole office was up for
grabs.
up for somethingmod. agreeable to some-
thing. I’m up for a pizza. Anybody want
to chip in? Who’s up for a swim?
up front 1. mod. at the beginning; in ad-
vance. She wanted $200 up front.
The more you pay up front, the less you’ll
have to finance. 2. mod. open; honest;
forthcoming. She is a very up front
gal—trust her. I wish the salesman had
been more up front about it. 3. mod. in the
forefront; under fire (at the front). Yo u
guys who are up front are gonna get the
most fire. You two go up front and see
if you can help.
up highn. a stimulating rather than a de-
pressing drug high. (Drugs. See also up
pot.) She was always looking for a good
up high. When she couldn’t find quality,
she went after quantity. Many of them
have to have an up high. They are too close
to clinical depression to chance anything
else.
upholstered[@”polst#d] 1. mod. alcohol
intoxicated. She was a little upholstered,
but not seriously impaired. He drank till
he was comfortably upholstered. 2. Go to
(well-)upholstered.
up in armsmod. angry; excited. The
whole town was up in arms about the
planned highway. Now, don’t get up in
arms about it.
up in the air (about someone or some-
thing)mod. undecided about someone or
something. I’m sort of up in the air
about whether to marry Mary or not.
Mary’s up in the air, too.
up one’s alleyGo to (right) up one’s alley.
upper storyGo to top story.
uppity[“@p@di] mod. haughty. (Folksy.)
Why is she so uppity? Don’t be uppity.
Remember who you are!
up potn. stimulating marijuana, as op-
posed to relaxing marijuana. (Drugs. See
also up high.) I can only handle up pot.
Everything else makes me cry. Te l l h i m
you really don’t want up pot unless it’s
cheap.
up shit creek (without a paddle) and up
the creek (without a paddle); up a
creekmod. in an awkward position with
no easy way out. (Usually objectionable.)
I’m sort of up the creek and don’t know
what to do. You are up a creek! You got
yourself into it, so get yourself out.
theupshot (of something)n. the result of
something; the outcome of something.
The upshot of it all was that we don’t get
the new coffeepot. And the upshot was
a new manager and raises for everyone.
upsiden. the good side. On the upside,
things might get better. There’s not
much to look forward to on the upside.
up stakestv. to prepare for leaving and
then leave. (Up has the force of a verb
here. The phrase suggests pulling up tentup a storm