star up

verb

To transfer (an incarcerated juvenile offender) to an adult prison earlier than the usual age of 18 or 21.

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Meanings

verbstar up (third-person singular simple present stars up, present participle starring up, simple past and past participle starred up)

present singular third person stars up · participle present starring up · participle past starred up · past starred up

  1. UKtransitiveTo transfer (an incarcerated juvenile offender) to an adult prison earlier than the usual age of 18 or 21.

    So he lost it all when he got starred up: sent to adult prison.

    2011, Jonathan Trigell, Boy A, page 189
    1 more example

    Under 18s can occasionally be moved to the adult estate through a process known in the system as 'starring up'. Fewer than ten under 18s were moved each year between 2010 and 2012 and none in 2013.

    2016, Yvonne Jewkes, Ben Crewe, Jamie Bennett, Handbook on Prisons, page 534
Cite this entry
APA

star up. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/star%20up

MLA

“star up.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/star%20up. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “star up,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/star%20up.

Source: star up on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.