Meanings
plural getups · alternative get up · alternative get-up
- USinformalClothes, costume or outfit, especially one that is ostentatious or otherwise unusual.
They wore jorts and crop tops; or strappy, S&M-influenced getups; or pajamas emblazoned with cartoons.
2025 May 5, Spencer Kornhaber, “Is This the Worst-Ever Era of American Pop Culture?”, in The Atlantic, →ISSN4 more examples
When near the buildings I met a white man, in such an unexpected elegance of get–up that in the first moment I took him for a sort of vision.
1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part IThe Schnitzelbank Band, each member attired in an odd getup, received many comments for the manner in which the men marched.
1917 October 28, “1,200 Reading Firemen March”, in Reading Eagle, Pennsylvania, USA, page 4Oh, I forgot. She had on a get-up that took the attention of anyone that saw her, even in that crazy mob. The better to cut the wind, she had shortened sail and wore a short skirt, black tights, and a skullcap.
1930, Edna Ferber, Cimarron, page 24[A] parade of costumed cadets trots by: a shark costume, an Uncle Sam getup and three young men in form-fitting bodysuits.
2009 June 8, “Worried They Will Miss the War: Inside the Mind of West Point's Class of 2009”, in Newsweek - informalA fight or altercation.
"A bully. Picked on fellows. He loved to fight. But I never saw him in a getup with a fellow his own size."
2002 January 28, Andrea Sachs, “Caricature Builder”, in Time - alternativeAlternative form of get-up-and-go.
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Bulgarian облекло, премяна
- облекло (obleklo)outfit
- премяна (premjana)outfit
- оформление (oformlenie)layout and production style
Dutch uitdossing
- uitdossingoutfit
French accoutrement
- accoutrementoutfit
Icelandic múndering
- múnderingoutfit
Polish strój, ubiór
- strójoutfit
- ubióroutfit
- designlayout and production style
Russian наря́д, прикид
- наря́д (narjád)outfit
- прикид (prikid)outfit
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
getup. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/getup
“getup.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/getup. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “getup,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/getup.
Source: getup on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.