"up to something" meaning in English

See up to something in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /ˈʌp tuː ˈsʌmθɪŋ/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈʌp tə ˈsʌmθɪŋ/ [General-American] Audio: en-au-up to something.ogg [Australia]
Head templates: {{en-adj|-|head=up to something}} up to something (not comparable)
  1. (idiomatic) Doing something mischievous or scheming. Tags: idiomatic, not-comparable Related terms: up to no good, be up to Translations (doing something mischievous or scheming): ude på noget (Danish), suunnittelee jotakin (english: is up to something) (Finnish), etwas im Schilde führen (German), aprontar [Brazil] (Portuguese), затевать (zatevatʹ) (Russian), tramar algo (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-up_to_something-en-adj-Ennb9ls~ Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Spanish links with redundant wikilinks

Download JSON data for up to something meaning in English (4.5kB)

{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-",
        "head": "up to something"
      },
      "expansion": "up to something (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "up"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Spanish links with redundant wikilinks",
          "parents": [
            "Links with redundant wikilinks",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He looks like an angel, but I can tell he's up to something.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1871 October 27, Prince McElhannon (witness), “The Ku-Klux Conspiracy”, in Testimony Taken by the Joint Select Committee to Inquire into the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States. Georgia, volume II, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, published 1872, →OCLC, page 649",
          "text": "I took my mare and went down to the swamp, for I knew they had been up to something there from the signs I saw.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1922 February, L. B. Thoburn-Clarke, “Amid the Swamps. A True Story of New Zealand Life in the Early Days.”, in The Boy's Own Paper, volume XXXVIII, part 4, London: \"Boy's Own Paper\" Office, […], →OCLC, section II, page 212, column 2",
          "text": "One or another of them will be poking their heads in and see we have been up to something [...]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1955 January 22, S. Roberts, “The Man who Made the Grade: A Short Story”, in Ram Singh, A. K. Mukerji, editors, Thought, air edition, volume VII, number 4, New Delhi: Printed on behalf of Siddhartha Publications Ltd., by R. L. Chadha at Naya Hindustan Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 10, column 1",
          "text": "One day Chander, who was always up to something, took it into his head to ring up one or two customers in regard to bills long outstanding on them.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005 August 25, Simon Cox, “A 'Neet' Solution”, in BBC News, archived from the original on 2018-07-08",
          "text": "If they are doing nothing they are going to be up to something – just send them to prison.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC",
          "text": "Shepard: Last I knew, Kaidan was Alliance. Why is he out in the Terminus Systems?\nIllusive Man: Officially, it's an outreach program to improve Alliance relations with the colonies.\nIllusive Man: But they're up to something. And if they sent Commander Alenko, it must be big.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2003 December 13, “Crime scene”, in The Age, Melbourne, Vic.: Nine Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2018-09-18",
          "text": "Police knew who they were. They knew they were up to something. All they could do was wait.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Doing something mischievous or scheming."
      ],
      "id": "en-up_to_something-en-adj-Ennb9ls~",
      "links": [
        [
          "mischievous",
          "mischievous"
        ],
        [
          "scheming",
          "scheming#Adjective"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Doing something mischievous or scheming."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "up to no good"
        },
        {
          "word": "be up to"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "not-comparable"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "da",
          "lang": "Danish",
          "sense": "doing something mischievous or scheming",
          "word": "ude på noget"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "english": "is up to something",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "doing something mischievous or scheming",
          "word": "suunnittelee jotakin"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "doing something mischievous or scheming",
          "word": "etwas im Schilde führen"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "doing something mischievous or scheming",
          "tags": [
            "Brazil"
          ],
          "word": "aprontar"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "zatevatʹ",
          "sense": "doing something mischievous or scheming",
          "word": "затевать"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "doing something mischievous or scheming",
          "word": "tramar algo"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈʌp tuː ˈsʌmθɪŋ/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈʌp tə ˈsʌmθɪŋ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-up to something.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/9b/En-au-up_to_something.ogg/En-au-up_to_something.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/En-au-up_to_something.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "up to something"
}
{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-",
        "head": "up to something"
      },
      "expansion": "up to something (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "up"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "up to no good"
    },
    {
      "word": "be up to"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English adjectives",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English uncomparable adjectives",
        "Spanish links with redundant wikilinks"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He looks like an angel, but I can tell he's up to something.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1871 October 27, Prince McElhannon (witness), “The Ku-Klux Conspiracy”, in Testimony Taken by the Joint Select Committee to Inquire into the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States. Georgia, volume II, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, published 1872, →OCLC, page 649",
          "text": "I took my mare and went down to the swamp, for I knew they had been up to something there from the signs I saw.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1922 February, L. B. Thoburn-Clarke, “Amid the Swamps. A True Story of New Zealand Life in the Early Days.”, in The Boy's Own Paper, volume XXXVIII, part 4, London: \"Boy's Own Paper\" Office, […], →OCLC, section II, page 212, column 2",
          "text": "One or another of them will be poking their heads in and see we have been up to something [...]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1955 January 22, S. Roberts, “The Man who Made the Grade: A Short Story”, in Ram Singh, A. K. Mukerji, editors, Thought, air edition, volume VII, number 4, New Delhi: Printed on behalf of Siddhartha Publications Ltd., by R. L. Chadha at Naya Hindustan Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 10, column 1",
          "text": "One day Chander, who was always up to something, took it into his head to ring up one or two customers in regard to bills long outstanding on them.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005 August 25, Simon Cox, “A 'Neet' Solution”, in BBC News, archived from the original on 2018-07-08",
          "text": "If they are doing nothing they are going to be up to something – just send them to prison.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC",
          "text": "Shepard: Last I knew, Kaidan was Alliance. Why is he out in the Terminus Systems?\nIllusive Man: Officially, it's an outreach program to improve Alliance relations with the colonies.\nIllusive Man: But they're up to something. And if they sent Commander Alenko, it must be big.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2003 December 13, “Crime scene”, in The Age, Melbourne, Vic.: Nine Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2018-09-18",
          "text": "Police knew who they were. They knew they were up to something. All they could do was wait.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Doing something mischievous or scheming."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "mischievous",
          "mischievous"
        ],
        [
          "scheming",
          "scheming#Adjective"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Doing something mischievous or scheming."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈʌp tuː ˈsʌmθɪŋ/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈʌp tə ˈsʌmθɪŋ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-up to something.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/9b/En-au-up_to_something.ogg/En-au-up_to_something.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/En-au-up_to_something.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "da",
      "lang": "Danish",
      "sense": "doing something mischievous or scheming",
      "word": "ude på noget"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "english": "is up to something",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "doing something mischievous or scheming",
      "word": "suunnittelee jotakin"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "doing something mischievous or scheming",
      "word": "etwas im Schilde führen"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "doing something mischievous or scheming",
      "tags": [
        "Brazil"
      ],
      "word": "aprontar"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "zatevatʹ",
      "sense": "doing something mischievous or scheming",
      "word": "затевать"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "doing something mischievous or scheming",
      "word": "tramar algo"
    }
  ],
  "word": "up to something"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-22 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (fc4f0c7 and c937495). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.