UP TO

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does up to mean? 

• UP TO (adjective)
  The adjective UP TO has 2 senses:

1. busy or occupied with

2. having the requisite qualities for

  Familiarity information: UP TO used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UP TO (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Busy or occupied with

Context example:

up to no good

Similar:

busy (actively or fully engaged or occupied)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Having the requisite qualities for

Synonyms:

adequate to; capable; equal to; up to

Context example:

the work isn't up to the standard I require

Similar:

adequate; equal (having the requisite qualities or resources to meet a task)

 Context examples 

I rowed into the adjoining cove and up to the edge of the beach.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

At the hotel he hurried up to Brissenden's room, and hurried down again.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Teach me; I'm not quite up to it.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

This formulation may provide pain relief up to 72 hours.

(Extended Release Bupivacaine Hydrochloride Resorbable Matrix Formulation, NCI Thesaurus)

I took a run, but unfortunately jumped short, and found myself just in the middle up to my knees.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

You see, it's all up to you and me, for this old Summerlee man will want dry-nursin' from the first.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"Not from the way he pitches into it up to his ears," remarked Harkey.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

The eggs can live on household surfaces for up to 2 weeks.

(Pinworms, NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)

If they can get up to it and fire in upon us through our own ports, things would begin to look dirty.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

She had given him up to oblige others.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)