In the English language, there is a two-letter word that has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that word is UP. It is listed in the dictionary as an adverb, preposition, adjective, noun, or verb! (Click here for the Merriam-Webster Dictionary link and keep scrolling down the page.) There are over 30 definitions!
I cannot claim total originality for what follows (I think variations of this have circulated before), but it sure is fun to explore for us word lovers!
At first, it is easy to understand the word UP, meaning toward the sky or a higher position, but think about all the other ways we use this word:
You wake UP.
At a meeting, topics come UP.
Political candidates are UP for election.
Your smile can brighten UP a room.
A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP.
You line UP for tickets.
People speak UP or take UP a cause.
And if a person is speaking too softly, we ask them to “speak UP!”
To be dressed is one thing, but to be dressed UP is special.
With the right skill, you can fix UP the old car.
It is UP to someone at work to write UP a report.
You call UP your friends.
Please look UP your friends in your address book.
Unfortunately, you can take UP with the wrong crowd.
You work UP an appetite.
At dinner time, you warm UP leftovers and then clean UP the kitchen.
Don’t forget to lock UP the house.
A disaster strikes, and you must pick UP the pieces.
By clicking a thumbs-UP, you can say you “like” something online.
After the rain, we say the sky is clearing UP.
If it has not rained for a while, we say it is drying UP.
The bad kid in class always stirs UP trouble.
You think UP excuses.
Someone must open UP a store in the morning but remember to close it UP at night.
A Pixar movie is called “Up.”
Time to wrap this UP.
So, if you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time; but if you don’t give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more.
[This post ran over a decade ago, and I thought I’d bring it UP again. Pun intended.]
Up’s a word with many meanings,
to count them all takes brainy brawn,
but through all these upward gleanings,
there’s one to which my heart is drawn,
and that is the Ascension,
the taking up of Christ to God,
the upward pull, the tension
that’s not up to us, the flawed,
but is bound up by the perfect Love
that closes up, for good, the hell
that we had built up, hand in glove,
teamed up with sin we loved so well,
but our deadly faults are gone, cleared up
by the Friend and King with whom we sup.
Thumbs up, up, up ! Amen.
Yes, Andrew!!! I was also thinking of where it says in Thessalonians that those of us who are still alive will be caught UP in the air to meet Him! Woot!
Bravo, Andrew!
Of course we can make this stuff up. We’re writers.
I give up. I’m not up to reading any more.
What’s UP? I can’t keep UP.
Since I write mostly for children, the first thing that popped in my head was: I can’t wait to grow UP.
And, as I told Andrew, the best UP is the one in Thessalonians where those of us who are left will be caught UP in the air to meet Him. PTL!
So this is what Steve Laube was UP to a decade ago…
I think you’ve summed it up perfectly.
My one year old’s favorite word is UP because of Forrest Frank’s song. “I was down but now I’m UP.” So I found this post especially fun. He only knows about three words. Mama, Dada, and up.
Indeed. I’m always posting things on my Facebook group forum. No wonder it’s the hardest language to learn. I’m glad I grew up speaking it.
What fun post! And I love Andrew Budek-Schmeisser’s poem.
May I share a poem I wrote along similar lines (but not up the same alley)?
ENOUGH, O COUGH!
An Ode to Ough
By Reine Duell Bethany
You can’t defeat me, silly cough
Try though you might to make life rough,
The cold that brought you, I sloughed off,
Yes, I came through, for I am tough.
Oh, I lay briefly in a trough,
My brains like dough, my thoughts all nought,
Bent as a bough trod by a plough
Before the onslaught that you brought.
Know this, cough: I’m not your borough!
You brought drought, some harm you wrought,
But when I heal, I make it thorough!
Soon you’ll be an afterthought.
You’re an ill wind, nought but draught,
I stare you down and rudely laugh.
(July 2, 2026)
Up is not alone. Here are 10 uses of its opposite. (I bet there are more).
Stand down!,
Take it down!
I am feeling down.
Let’s go down town.
I am down with this.
Please don’t let me down again.
I love this down jacket.
Go down, Moses
Its just a bit down the road.
Have you calmed down yet?
Just as Moses lifted UP the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted UP, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life. John 3:14
And when these things begin to come to pass, then look UP, and lift UP your hands for your redemption draws nigh. Luke 21:28
And I will raise you UP on the last day. John 6:40
UP is our eternal destination. Let us lift UP our hands and hearts in praise and thanksgiving.
Just as Moses lifted UP the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted UP, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life. John 3:14
And when these things begin to come to pass, then look UP, and lift UP your hands for your redemption draws nigh. Luke 21:28
And I will raise you UP on the last day. John 6:40
UP is our eternal destination. Let us lift UP our hands and hearts in praise and thanksgiving.
Does anyone else remember Up the Down Staircase? That title made no sense to my child’s brain when I first saw the billboard, but considering all the ups and downs of this tiny but mighty word, I will go with the flow.