Word.ws English Dictionary

setting up shop

setting up shop is the present participle and gerund of set up shop.

Meaning of set up shop

Verb

set up shop (third-person singular simple present sets up shop, present participle setting up shop, simple past and past participle set up shop)

  1. To physically arrange a shop or workplace.
    • He set up shop in his garage every Saturday.
  2. (idiomatic) To establish a business.
    • They set up shop as venture capitalists on Sand Hill Road.
    Antonyms:
    close up shop

Questions about setting up shop

What is setting up shop the present participle and gerund of?
Setting up shop is the present participle and gerund of set up shop.

Words near setting up shop in the dictionary

  1. setting together by the ears
  2. setting up
  3. setting up camp
  4. setting up one's bristles
  5. setting up one's staff
  6. setting up shop
  7. setting up someone's birse
  8. setting up to oneself
  9. setting upon
  10. setting with
  11. setting-pole

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: setting up shop (page history and authors); set up shop (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “setting up shop.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/setting_up_shop. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.