up and

English

Etymology

Unknown. Possibly from get up and. Possibly a dialect use of up (verb).

Adverb

up and (not comparable)

1. (colloquial) Abruptly; unexpectedly.

   Halfway through the performance he just up and left.

   • 1932, Erskine Caldwell, Tobacco Road, page 168:

     I knowed then why she up and went there, because Ada told me.

   • 1968, Jerry Jeff Walker (lyrics and music), “Mr. Bojangles”:

     The dog up and died, he up and died
     And after twenty years he still grieves

   • 1990, Archie Weller, “Johnny Blue”, in Going Home: Stories, page 41:

     When he saw me hand and face, he up and goes for the head's office before I can say 'struth' and, by the time I can get after him, it's too late.

   • 2001, Charles G. Roland, Long Night's Journey into Day: Prisoners of war in Hong Kong and Japan, 1941 ..., page 193:

     a friend of mine who, within ten days, said 'I've had enough of this' and he just up and died. It seemed he wished himself to die.

Usage notes

Sometimes, particularly in UK usage, up is conjugated as a verb (by analogy with the forms go and X, try and X etc.):

• They upped and left.
• She was always upping and disappearing.

Related terms

• up (verb)
• up and leave
• up and disappear

Translations

abruptly, unexpectedly

• Hungarian: fogja magát, és (hu)
• Portuguese: do nada (pt)

Anagrams

• Pandu