have up

present singular third person has up · participle present having up · participle past had up · past had up

1. UKidiomatictransitiveTo accuse, arrest, try for a criminal act.

   "He broke a dog's leg with a stone, and there was some talk of having him up for it, but the people were afraid of him, and no one would prosecute."

   1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019

   2 more examples

   In the police courts it is not uncommon to hear that such and such low persons have been "had up" for "cat and kitten sneaking," i.e., stealing quart and pint pots.

   1867, Jacob Larwood, John Camden Hotten, The History of Signboards, page 177

   2007, Saturday October 27, Don't write off religion - it can be the key to a stable family, by Anne Karpf in The Guardian If Richard Dawkins had his way, a fair number of you and, as it happens, me, would be had up for child abuse. According to him, that's what religious indoctrination of children by their parents is.

   Synonyms: charge, criminate, indict, accriminate, accuse, appeach, arraign, becry