Meaning of up sticks | Babel Free

Definitions

1. To put up the mast of a ship in preparation for sailing.
   Ireland, UK, slang
2. To prepare to move; to pack up; to go and live in a different place.
   Ireland, UK, colloquial, figuratively

Examples

“Both of these conquered more and more of India, till at length the Rajput city of Delhi was captured, and then the disgusted Rajputs ‘upped sticks’ and fled before Islam and the Turk, and finally settled amid the inaccessible mountains and jungles and occasional fertile valleys of what is known as Rajputana or Rajasthan.”

“If a doctor had to do an operation in a sailing ship, you upped sticks and went before the wind, he said.”

“Once she starts playing that infernal instrument all hours of the day and night, she can think of nothing else and sooner or later she ups sticks and is gone.”

“For such a strategy to work we needed thousands of contractors to up sticks and leave and I never thought that was going to happen.”

“There are too many examples of successful entrepreneurs who have upped sticks and gone elsewhere.”

“For Paddy Groggy, upping sticks and moving elsewhere wasn't a viable option at this stage in his life.”

CEFR level