get one up on

verb

To outdo.

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Meanings

verbget one up on (third-person singular simple present gets one up on, present participle getting one up on, simple past got one up on, past participle (UK) got one up on or (US) gotten one up on)

present singular third person gets one up on · participle present getting one up on · past got one up on · UK participle past got one up on · US participle past gotten one up on

  1. transitiveTo outdo.

    So why not rob these red cloaks? Serves em right for letting their guard down. Isn’t that the unwritten law of the land? If someone gets one up on you, you deserve it for letting them?

    2017 July 16, Brandon Nowalk, “Chickens and dragons come home to roost on Game Of Thrones (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club, archived from the original on 25 Jul 2017
Cite this entry
APA

get one up on. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/get%20one%20up%20on

MLA

“get one up on.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/get%20one%20up%20on. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “get one up on,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/get%20one%20up%20on.

Source: get one up on on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.