Word.ws English Dictionary

up and down

up and down adverb: upward and downward, alternately.

Adverb

up and down (not comparable)

  1. Upward and downward, alternately.
    • the tide goes up and down
    • my blood pressure goes up and down
  2. (idiomatic) Forwards and backwards alternately along a path.
    • walk up and down the corridor
  3. (idiomatic) Staunchly, unwaveringly, obstinately.
    • He swore up and down that he hadn't taken the money.
    • Christina is straight up and down fuckable.2006, Stephen Baker, Bomb Ass Pussy
  4. (figuratively) In various places, e.g., in a country.
    • There's also a barber's shop and that staple of railway stations up and down the UK - a WH Smith.2022 January 12, Paul Bigland, “Fab Four: the nation's finest stations: Eastbourne”, in Rail, number 948, page 27

Adjective

up and down (not comparable)

  1. Vertical; perpendicular; said of the cable when the anchor is under, or nearly under, the hawse hole, and the cable is taut.
  2. (figuratively) Plain; downright.
    • an up and down honest man
  3. (Philippines) Of a building, having two stories.

up and down meaning in Tamil and Kannada

up and down in Tamil

ஏற்றிழிவு

up and down in Kannada

ಏರಿಳಿತ, ತಗ್ಗುದಿನ್ನೆ

Examples of up and down in a sentence

  • She looked me up and down and hinted that I could do with losing some weight.
  • I quickly eyed the building up and down.

Questions about up and down

What does up and down mean?
Up and down means upward and downward, alternately.
What is up and down in Tamil?
Up and down in Tamil is ஏற்றிழிவு. See Up and down meaning in Tamil.
How do you use up and down in a sentence?
She looked me up and down and hinted that I could do with losing some weight.
What part of speech is up and down?
Up and down can be an adverb or an adjective.

Words near up and down in the dictionary

  1. up and coming
  2. up and disappear
  3. up and disappeared
  4. up and disappearing
  5. up and disappears
  6. up and down
  7. up and down house
  8. up and down straight draw
  9. up and down straight draws
  10. up and go
  11. up and leave

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: up and down (page history and authors); up and down (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); up and down (Kannada Wiktionary) (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-up and down.ogg.

Cite this entry: “up and down.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/up_and_down. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.