English

Verb

stand up ‎(third-person singular simple present stands up, present participle standing up, simple past and past participle stood up)

1. (intransitive) To rise from a lying or sitting position.

   Stand up, then sit down again.

   • 1909, Archibald Marshall, The Squire's Daughter, chapterI:

     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.

2. (transitive) To bring something up and set it into a standing position.

   Laura stood the sofa up on end.

3. (transitive, idiomatic) 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.

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

     — What?! Why did you come HERE then? You should be at a hospital!

     — A gentleman never stands a lady up.

4. (intransitive, of a thing) To last or endure over a period of time.
   • 1969 May 23, "Planetary Exploration: Doubleheader on Venus," Time:

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

5. (intransitive, of a person or narrative) To continue to be believable, consistent, or plausible.
   • 1974 Dec. 23, "Watergate: Getting Out What Truth?," Time:

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

6. (intransitive, cricket, of a wicket-keeper) To stand immediately behind the wicket so as to catch balls from a slow or spin bowler, and to attempt to stump the batsman.
7. (transitive) To launch, propel upwards
   • 2011 September 28, Tom Rostance, “Arsenal 2-1 Olympiakos”, in BBC Sport:

     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.

8. (US, military, transitive) To formally activate and commission (a unit, formation, etc.).

Derived terms

Related terms

• stand
• stand down

Translations

See also

• sit down
• sit up
• lie down
• get up

Anagrams

• dustpan