stand up to

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

1. transitiveTo object to or interfere with the actions of (someone seen as bullying, pushy, or controlling).

   If anyone stood up to him, I bet he'd back down.

   1 more example

   He stated flatly that he could not run his airline with the middle seats unoccupied, as it was simply uneconomic. Actually, he probably could, but he stood up to the Government and ministers wilted and simply acquiesced. We needed some strong figure in the [rail] industry to stand up to government, but there has been no one to knock on number 10's door and argue the case.

   2020 July 15, Christian Wolmar, “J'Accuse...! A letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson”, in Rail, pages 50–51

2. transitiveTo withstand, to weather, to survive in spite of.

   The paint looks good, but I don't know if it will stand up to years of weather.

   3 more examples

   […] it had obtained from its constituents rather antiquated and inefficient equipment, which scarcely stood up to overwork; […].

   1946 July and August, K. Westcott Jones, “Isle of Wight Central Railway—2”, in Railway Magazine, page 244

   Using the countless tons of rock from the cliff-face, supplemented by much more from inland, they threw out a huge breakwater, 2,000 ft. long and 80 ft. high, roughly at right angles to the quay, so forming an almost completely sheltered corner. Fifty years later, this massive mole is still standing up to the worst that the Irish Sea can do.

   1956 September, F. F. Nicholls, “Neyland, A Forgotten Harbour”, in Railway Magazine, page 632

   Overhead electric equipment generally stood up well both to the weight of vertically falling snow and to the effects of snow on contact wires; [...].

   1962 March, “The New Year Freeze-up on British Railways”, in Modern Railways, page 158