Word.ws English Dictionary

up and at 'em

up and at 'em phrase: vigorously launched or launching into an activity.

Phrase

up and at 'em

  1. (idiomatic, slang) Vigorously launched or launching into an activity.
    • At 41, Jockey Richards was still up and at 'em last week, and his wrists and knees were still persuasive enough to boot home the winner in Newmarket's Icklingham Stakes.1945 November 12, “Sport: Stretch Drive”, in Time, retrieved 29 May 2015
    • [O]nly two alternative responses seem available: irrepressible up-and-at-'em chirpiness or apocalyptic hysteria.2002 September 15, Simon Schama, “A Whiff of Dread for the Land of Hope”, in New York Times, retrieved 29 May 2015

Questions about up and at 'em

What does up and at 'em mean?
Up and at 'em means vigorously launched or launching into an activity.
What part of speech is up and at 'em?
Up and at 'em is a phrase.

Words near up and at 'em in the dictionary

  1. up against the ropes
  2. up against the wall
  3. up and
  4. up and about
  5. up and around
  6. up and at 'em
  7. up and away
  8. up and coming
  9. up and disappear
  10. up and disappeared
  11. up and disappearing

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: up and at 'em (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-up and at 'em.ogg.

Cite this entry: “up and at 'em.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/up_and_at_%27em. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.