up sticks
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
To put up the mast of a ship in preparation for sailing.
Register: slang
Examples
I couldn't up sticks and away, which I might have done otherwise — regretting it afterwards.
Do your homework before applying to permanently up sticks.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30 via kaikki.org).
Common questions
What does “up sticks” mean?
To put up the mast of a ship in preparation for sailing.
Is “up sticks” formal or informal?
up sticks is generally slang.