Word.ws English Dictionary

taken someone up short

taken someone up short is the past participle of take someone up short.

Meaning of take someone up short

Verb

take someone up short (third-person singular simple present takes someone up short, present participle taking someone up short, simple past took someone up short, past participle taken someone up short)

  1. (dated) To check someone or give them a curt answer.

Questions about taken someone up short

What is taken someone up short the past participle of?
Taken someone up short is the past participle of take someone up short.

Words near taken someone up short in the dictionary

  1. taken some doing
  2. taken someone at their word
  3. taken someone down the garden path
  4. taken someone for all they've got
  5. taken someone to the grave
  6. taken someone up short
  7. taken someone's arm
  8. taken someone's breath away
  9. taken someone's fancy
  10. taken someone's head off
  11. taken someone's life

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: taken someone up short (page history and authors); take someone up short (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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