set up

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See also: setup and set-up

English

Pronunciation

Verb

set up (third-person singular simple present sets up, present participle setting up, simple past and past participle set up)

  2. (transitive) To ready for use.
    We set up the sprinkler.
  3. (transitive) To arrange logically.
    Set up my CD collection.
  4. (transitive) To cause to happen.
    Even a minor change can set up new bugs.
    • 2018 July 3, Phil McNulty, “Colombia 1 - 1 England”, in BBC Sport‎:
      England's famous victory sets up a meeting with Sweden in Samara on Saturday
  5. (transitive) To trap or ensnare.
    I've got to set up that tasty rabbit.
  6. (transitive) To arrange for an outcome; to tamper or rig.
    The election was set up!
  8. (intransitive) To ready something for use.
  9. (intransitive) To gel or harden.
    Give the cement 24 hours to set up before walking on it.
  10. (intransitive) To level to rise in one part of a body of water, especially a shallow one, because of a storm surge caused by persistent wind.
    The level set up at the south end of the lake after a day of north winds.
  11. (transitive) To provide the money or other support that someone needs for an important task or activity.
    Winning the lottery has set them up for life.
    A good breakfast really sets you up for the day.
  12. (transitive) To establish someone in a business or position.
    After he left college, his father set him up in the family business.
    She set herself up as an interior designer.
  13. (informal, transitive, criminology) To trick or lure (someone) in order to entrap them.
    Synonyms: frame, frame up, put up
    They claimed that they weren't selling drugs, but that they'd been set up by the police.
  14. (transitive) To make (someone) proud or conceited (often in passive).
    • 1992, Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety, Harper Perennial, published 2007, pages 286–7:
      M. Robespierre looked at me sideways and smiled and said to Madame, ‘You're a young lady after my own heart.’ This set her up for the day.
  15. (transitive) To matchmake; to arrange a date between two people.
  16. (sports, transitive) To create a goalscoring opportunity (for).
    • 2011 October 1, John Sinnott, “Aston Villa 2 - 0 Wigan”, in BBC Sport‎:
      Just past the hour Agbonlahor set up the second, crossing for Bent to net.
    • 2024 May 6, Sid Lowe, “Portu’s brilliant burst seals Girona’s top-four fairytale in the perfect way”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:
      On 71.05, Portu brilliantly set up Yangel Herrera, only for Marc-André ter Stegen to make a sensational save.
  17. (dated, intransitive) To begin business or a scheme of life.
    to set up in trade; to set up for oneself
  18. To profess openly; to make pretensions.
    • 1744 (first printed) Jonathan Swift, On the Testimony of Conscience
      those men who set up for morality without regard to religion, are generally virtuous but in part
  19. (transitive) To found; to start (a business, scheme)
    • 2017 April 6, Samira Shackle, “On the frontline with Karachi’s ambulance drivers”, in the Guardian‎:
      With the help of his wife Bilquis, he set up a maternal health clinic and a centre for abandoned children.
  20. (boxing) To deceive an opponent and capitalize on their reactions with a certain technique or maneuver.
    • 1950, Jack Dempsey, chapter 23, in Championship Fighting: Explosive Punching and Aggressive Defense:
      When you make an opening you merely cause an opponent to uncover a target somewhere on his person. But when you set up an opponent, you knock him off balance with one punch so that he should be an open target for a following punch. Unless he's knocked off balance, he's not set up.
    • 1997 September 24, Joe Duffy, “TRIBUTES TO THE MAN AND THE BOXER”, in Hartford Courant‎:
      Writer Danny Wamboldt of Ring magazine said, "Only Willie knew how to set up his opponents masterfully and then move in." Wamboldt, a former New England bantamweight champion and current national president of the Veteran Boxers Association, said that one of Pep's opponents said of his dazzling speed: "It was the first time he had been surrounded by one man."
  21. To cause to take flight; to flush into the air.
    • 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 27:
      Edmund had enjoyed a good gallop over the downs, setting up the sandpipers[.]
  22. (obsolete, printing) Synonym of compose (To arrange (types) in a composing stick for printing; to typeset)

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Adjective

set up (comparative more set up, superlative most set up)

  1. In a position to function; ready.
    Now that I'm set up, this will take moments!

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