someone's number is up

phrase

It is someone's time to die, or to undergo some other difficult experience.

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Meanings

phrase
  1. informalIt is someone's time to die, or to undergo some other difficult experience.

    So I just thought, well, my number's up. I'm going to get some stupid assignment that nobody wants.

    2012 July 3, DW Gibson, Not Working: People Talk About Losing a Job and Finding Their Way in Today's Changing Economy, Penguin, →ISBN
    1 more example

    Even in this hopeless situation, I don't feel like my number's up. I have to reach the next level, get closer to her. I don't have time to play with the monsters down here. I'm in the eye of a storm of howls and roars, but I'm different[…]

    2014 December 16, Fujino Omori, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Vol. 1 (light novel), Yen Press LLC, →ISBN
Cite this entry
APA

someone's number is up. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/someone's%20number%20is%20up

MLA

“someone's number is up.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/someone's%20number%20is%20up. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “someone's number is up,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/someone's%20number%20is%20up.

Source: someone's number is up on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.