set up

present singular third person sets up · participle present setting up

1. transitiveTo make ready for use.

   We set up the sprinkler.

2. transitiveTo arrange logically.

   Set up my CD collection.

3. transitiveTo cause to happen.

   Even a minor change can set up new bugs.

   1 more example

   England's famous victory sets up a meeting with Sweden in Samara on Saturday

   2018 July 3, Phil McNulty, “Colombia 1 - 1 England”, in BBC Sport

4. transitiveTo trap or ensnare.

   I've got to set up that tasty rabbit.

5. transitiveTo arrange for an outcome; to tamper or rig.

   The election was set up!

6. intransitiveTo prepare or get ready.

   The band is setting up.

   2 more examples

   Used with an implied object obvious from context.

   Give me a minute — I'm still setting up.

   Synonyms: install, put in, ready, prepare, assemble, configure

7. intransitiveTo gel or harden.

   Give the cement 24 hours to set up before walking on it.

8. intransitiveTo level to rise in one part of a body of water, especially a shallow one, because of a storm surge caused by persistent wind.

   The level set up at the south end of the lake after a day of north winds.

9. transitiveTo provide the money or other support that someone needs for an important task or activity.

   Winning the lottery has set them up for life.

   2 more examples

   A good breakfast really sets you up for the day.

   If you ever need anything, come back here, and I'll set you up!

   1995, HAL Laboratory, EarthBound, Nintendo, Super Nintendo Entertainment System

10. transitiveTo establish someone in a business or position.

    She set herself up as an interior designer.

    1 more example

    After he left college, his father set him up in the family business.

11. informaltransitivecriminologyTo trick or lure (someone) in order to entrap them.

    They claimed that they weren't selling drugs, but that they'd been set up by the police.

    Synonyms: frame, frame up, put up

12. transitiveTo make (someone) proud or conceited (often in passive).

    M. Robespierre looked at me sideways and smiled and said to Madame, ‘You're a young lady after my own heart.’ This set her up for the day.

    1992, Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety, Harper Perennial, published 2007, pages 286–7

13. transitiveTo matchmake; to arrange a date between two people.
14. transitivehobbiesTo create a goalscoring opportunity (for).

    Just past the hour Agbonlahor set up the second, crossing for Bent to net.

    2011 October 1, John Sinnott, “Aston Villa 2 - 0 Wigan”, in BBC Sport

    1 more example

    On 71.05, Portu brilliantly set up Yangel Herrera, only for Marc-André ter Stegen to make a sensational save.

    2024 May 6, Sid Lowe, “Portu’s brilliant burst seals Girona’s top-four fairytale in the perfect way”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

15. datedintransitiveTo begin business or a scheme of life.

    to set up in trade; to set up for oneself

16. To profess openly; to make pretensions.

    1744 (first printed) Jonathan Swift, On the Testimony of Conscience those men who set up for morality without regard to religion, are generally virtuous but in part

17. transitiveTo found; to start (a business, scheme)

    With the help of his wife Bilquis, he set up a maternal health clinic and a centre for abandoned children.

    2017 April 6, Samira Shackle, “On the frontline with Karachi’s ambulance drivers”, in the Guardian

18. boxingTo deceive an opponent and capitalize on their reactions with a certain technique or maneuver.

    When you make an opening you merely cause an opponent to uncover a target somewhere on his person. But when you set up an opponent, you knock him off balance with one punch so that he should be an open target for a following punch. Unless he's knocked off balance, he's not set up.

    1950, Jack Dempsey, chapter 23, in Championship Fighting: Explosive Punching and Aggressive Defense

    1 more example

    Writer Danny Wamboldt of Ring magazine said, "Only Willie knew how to set up his opponents masterfully and then move in." Wamboldt, a former New England bantamweight champion and current national president of the Veteran Boxers Association, said that one of Pep's opponents said of his dazzling speed: "It was the first time he had been surrounded by one man."

    1997 September 24, Joe Duffy, “TRIBUTES TO THE MAN AND THE BOXER”, in Hartford Courant

19. To cause to take flight; to flush into the air.

    Edmund had enjoyed a good gallop over the downs, setting up the sandpipers[.]

    1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 27

20. obsoletemediaSynonym of compose (To arrange (types) in a composing stick for printing; to typeset)

    Synonyms: compose

comparative more set up · superlative most set up

1. In a position to function; ready.

   Now that I'm set up, this will take moments!

   Synonyms: prepared, ready