put up or shut up

put up or shut up idiom
Act on what you are saying or stop talking about it, as in You've been citing evidence for months but never presented it—now put up or shut up. This somewhat impolite term, often put as a command, is believed to come from gambling, in which a card player is told to ante up or withdraw. A second theory maintains that it means either put up your fists to fight or back down. [1870s] Also see put one's money where one's mouth is.

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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It could also be a combination of two idiomatic phrases: 1) to put up with, meaning to tolerate; and 2) to shut up shop, meaning to closedown a shop, i.e. for good. The problem I have with the phrase though is that it is generally used to mean both "put up" [with it] and "shut up", i.e. tolerate it AND stop talking about it.

Posted by anonymous 73 days ago.

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