go up

go up idiom
  1. Be put up, as in New buildings are going up all over town.
  2. Rise; increase. For example, His temperature is going up at an alarming rate, or The costs of construction are going up all the time. [Late 1800s]
  3. Also, be gone up. Be destroyed, ruined, done for; also, die, be killed. For example, If we're not back in a week, you'll know we've gone up, or In spite of our efforts, the plans for a new library are gone up. [Slang; mid-1800s]
  4. Forget one's lines on the stage or make a mistake in performing music. For example, Don't worry, you know your part and you won't go up, or He went up in the last movement of the sonata. [Slang; 1960s] Also see the subsequent idioms beginning with go up.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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