have up

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

have up (third-person singular simple present has up, present participle having up, simple past and past participle had up)

1. (transitive, idiomatic, UK) To accuse, arrest, try for a criminal act.
   • 1867, Jacob Larwood, John Camden Hotten, The History of Signboards, page 177:

     In the police courts it is not uncommon to hear that such and such low persons have been "had up" for "cat and kitten sneaking," i.e., stealing quart and pint pots.

   • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

     "He broke a dog's leg with a stone, and there was some talk of having him up for it, but the people were afraid of him, and no one would prosecute."

   • 2007, Saturday October 27, Don't write off religion - it can be the key to a stable family, by Anne Karpf in The Guardian

     If Richard Dawkins had his way, a fair number of you and, as it happens, me, would be had up for child abuse. According to him, that's what religious indoctrination of children by their parents is.