SIT UP

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sit up mean? 

• SIT UP (verb)
  The verb SIT UP has 2 senses:

1. not go to bed

2. change to an upright sitting position

  Familiarity information: SIT UP used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SIT UP (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Not go to bed

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

sit up; stay up

Context example:

We sat up all night to watch the election

Hypernyms (to "sit up" is one way to...):

wake (be awake, be alert, be there)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sense 2

Meaning:

Change to an upright sitting position

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Context example:

He sat up in bed

Hypernyms (to "sit up" is one way to...):

change posture (undergo a change in bodily posture)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

sit-up (a stomach exercise in which a person sits up from a supine position without using the arms for leverage)

 Context examples 

"To sit up with a sick friend, I suppose?" she sneered.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Mary used to sit up reading in her own little room downstairs.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

They seem to do nothing all day but sit up here and talk.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

When you have Mars in your sign, people sit up and listen—how could they not?

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Will you promise to sit up with me to bear me company?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

You must promise me not to sit up.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Three-month-old babies cannot sit up or roll over, yet they are already capable of learning patterns from simply looking at the world around them, according to a recent Northwestern University study.

(Infants Are Able to Learn Abstract Rules Visually, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Mrs. Dashwood WOULD sit up with her all night; and Elinor, in compliance with her mother's entreaty, went to bed.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

If only I dared to sit up and paddle, I made sure that I could overhaul her.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

It was reassuring, on such a night, to be told that some of the inn-servants had agreed together to sit up until morning.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)