to land up
1
5.1
- phrasal verb
- /lænd ʌp/
- UK
:
terminar
- But the Pilgrim group landed up in New England.
Their longitudinal studies showing that over time those children land up doing better.
- Their longitudinal studies showing that over time those children land up doing better.
- And typical me, the extreme, you know, I landed up being the National Front organiser for Camden, where I lived.
- To give you some sense, perhaps also of the maybe sense of astonishment or wonder at where contemporary science feels that we've landed up.
Examples
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They didn't plan to stay long, but they landed up camping in the woods for the entire weekend.
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We usually land up on the beach anyhow.
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We landed up in a ditch.
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I'm still not sure how I landed up on this journey, and it certainly hasn't always been easy or profitable.
Blog text (28) -
"I landed up in the small, friendly village of Vrigstad, in Småland, and once there, I fell in love with the music of the Swedish language."
Fiction book (2002) -
After taking a wrong turn, we surprisingly landed up in a small market town.
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I was just passing by, and somehow I landed up at the wrong party.
Synonyms
∞
2.8
To finally reach a place or situation without planning it
523
4.3
Finally be in a place or situation you did not plan
To finally arrive somewhere after a long or unexpected journey
Surface Forms
Morphology
land + up
There is a visible compositional link: 'land' (to arrive) plus the particle 'up' (indicating attainment or result) yields the sense of arriving into a situation, so a learner could plausibly infer the general meaning. However, the use to mean 'end up in a situation' is a metaphorical extension and somewhat idiomatic/regionally variable, so the exact sense and usage are not fully predictable without exposure.
Etymology
Land up paints a simple picture: imagine you travel and finally land somewhere, so you end up in that place by chance. That's why it means 'to finally find yourself in a certain situation or place, often by chance'.