Word.ws English Dictionary

surf's up

surf's up phrase: a phrase used in surfing when a nearby wave is passing.

Phrase

surf's up

  1. A phrase used in surfing when a nearby wave is passing.
  2. (idiomatic) It's time (to do something).
    • Yo, Harold! Surf's up! Those cars aren't going to wash themselves!

Origin of surf's up

Originally used in surfing to say there are good waves for surfing and one should get ready to ride them. This likely resulted in the later idiomatic use: to get ready for something.

Questions about surf's up

What does surf's up mean?
Surf's up means a phrase used in surfing when a nearby wave is passing.
What part of speech is surf's up?
Surf's up is a phrase.

Words near surf's up in the dictionary

  1. surf scoter
  2. surf scoters
  3. surf ski
  4. surf skis
  5. surf torture
  6. surf's up
  7. surf-cast
  8. surf-casted
  9. surf-caster
  10. surf-casters
  11. surf-casting

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: surf's up (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-surf's up.ogg.

Cite this entry: “surf's up.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/surf%27s_up. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.