Meaning of sit-up-and-beg | Babel Free

Definitions

A bicycle having handlebars that are rather high and curve backwards, so that the rider sits upright rather than hunching forward; a roadster.

UK

Examples

“I hadn't even found a proper bike shop – the one I did come across was full of the equivalent of our sit-up-and-begs.”

“Studying my bike in detail he then said, 'That's a good sit-up you've got.' For a moment I thought he thought I was riding a sit-up-and-beg when really I had a touring steed complete with drop handlebars. And then I realised my stumbling block. He had pronounced a very Kiwi sit-up for set-up.”

“Bicycles over many years have been bought / Something the inventor would never have thought! / From the sit up and begs that left you all shaken / From the old penny farthings did cycles awaken!”

CEFR level