stand up

present singular third person stands up · participle present standing up · participle past stood up · past stood up

1. intransitiveTo rise from a lying or sitting position.

   Stand up, then sit down again.

   1 more example

   He tried to persuade Cicely to stay away from the ball-room for a fourth dance.[…]But she said she must go back, and when they joined the crowd again[…]she found her mother standing up before the seat on which she had sat all the evening searching anxiously for her with her eyes, and her father by her side.

   1909 September 9, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter I, in The Squire’s Daughter, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC

2. transitiveTo bring something up and set it into a standing position; to set something up.

   Laura stood the sofa up on end.

3. idiomatictransitive(stand someone up) To avoid a prearranged meeting, especially a date, with (a person) without prior notification; to jilt or shirk.

   John stood Laura up at the movie theater.

   1 more example

   — What?! Why did you come HERE then? You should be at a hospital! — A gentleman never stands a lady up.

   2008 Oct. 20, Jeph Jacques, Questionable Content 1255: Consummate

4. intransitiveTo last or endure over a period of time.

   Both Venus 5 and Venus 6 had apparently stood up well under the rigors of their 217-million-mile trips.

   1969 May 23, “Planetary Exploration: Doubleheader on Venus”, in Time

5. intransitiveTo continue to be believable, consistent, or plausible.

   This kind of evidence wouldn't stand up in court.

   2013, Dennis Ford, Things Don't Add Up: A Novel of Kennedy Assassination Research

   1 more example

   Ehrlichman's story did not stand up under Neal's grilling.

   1974 December 23, “Watergate: Getting Out What Truth?”, in Time

6. intransitiveball gamesTo stand immediately behind the wicket so as to catch balls from a slow or spin bowler, and to attempt to stump the batsman.
7. transitiveTo launch, propel upwards

   It was a dreadful goal to concede as Ariel Ibagaza was able to take a short corner and then receive the return ball in space on the left. He stood up a floated cross into the middle where Fuster arrived unmarked to steer a header into the corner.

   2011 September 28, Tom Rostance, “Arsenal 2-1 Olympiakos”, in BBC Sport

8. UStransitivegovernmentTo formally activate and commission (a unit, formation, etc.).
9. To make one's voice heard, to speak up.

   Don't we as citizens deserve the truth? We need to stand up and demand answers.

   2015, Christopher Bollen, Orient, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 160

   3 more examples

   But my biblical and theological commitments tell me we need to stand up and be counted for the issues of neighbor care and creation care. We need to speak up.

   2008, Lindy Scott, Christians, the Care of Creation, and Global Climate Change, Wipf and Stock Publishers, →ISBN, page 4

   We're a lion sitting under the tree, watching the hyenas as they stalk our territory. They're coming right up to us. They scratch. They push. They're eating our food! At a certain point, we need to remember that we're a f***ing lion. We need to stand up, and we need to f**ing roar!

   2015, Jeremy Gutsche, Better and Faster: The Proven Path to Unstoppable Ideas, Crown, →ISBN, page 15

   We need to stand up and stop this happening right here right now. China needs to know the United States will not tolerate the wholesale thievery of U.S. technology and trade secrets.

   2017, BusinessNews Publishing, Summary: Time to Get Tough: Review and Analysis of Donald Trump's Book, Primento, →ISBN, page 8

10. formalintransitiveTo serve in a role during a wedding ceremony.

    Will you stand up for me (as my best man) at the wedding?

    1 more example

    The bridesmaids will stand up over there during the ceremony.