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✊ To rebel ⬆️ To move upward 🐎 To stand on hind legs
to rise up

to rise up

1 4.9
Stand up on the back legs, often suddenly from fear or excitement
  • phrasal verb
  • /raɪz ʌp/
translation icon : ponerse sobre las patas traseras
  • When the bear sensed danger, it rose up on its hind legs to assess the threat.
  • rose up on its hind
  • rose up onto her toes
  • rose up on two legs

Examples

  • The dog rose up in excitement when it saw its owner coming home.

  • I start down the aisle to collect their papers and see the kid rise up to meet me.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • The mothers wake at every cry, rise up to look to see whose baby is crying.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • The dog rose up and stood in the doorway, staring up at him with red eyes.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • Little Thunder flashed his teeth again, rising up on his hind legs to his full eight feet of height, and then retreated.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • The horse suddenly rose up on its hind legs, startled by the loud noise.

Synonyms

to get up
vsto rise up
695 1.0

To stand up from sitting or lying down

is used for animals standing on hind legs suddenly because of fear or excitement
to stand up
vsto rise up
559 1.0

To get up from sitting or lying and be on your feet

is the animal-specific act of rising onto hind legs, usually sudden and reactive
to rise
vsto rise up
319 1.0

To get up from bed or from a sitting position

is limited to four-legged creatures standing on hind legs suddenly from emotion
to rear
vsto rise up
28 4.9

To rise up on the back legs, often when frightened

is specifically the reactive act of standing on hind legs from fear or excitement
to uprear
vsto rise up
  • Archaic
8.8

To rise up on the back legs, often suddenly

is the same action but often happens as a fear or excitement reaction
to uprise
vsto rise up
8.6

To stand up from sitting or lying down

is narrower, referring to animals rising on hind legs often as a sudden reaction

Antonyms

to sit down
∞ 1.0

Move from standing into a chair or onto the ground

crouch
14 4.2

A low position with knees bent and body close to the ground to hide or get ready to move

Surface Forms

rise up infinitive
rising up present participle
rises up third person singular
rose up past
risen up past participle

Morphology

rise + up

The meaning 'to stand up on its hind legs' is directly derived from combining 'rise' (to move upward) with the directional particle 'up' (to a higher position); this motion-compositional pattern is transparent and predictable. Although the animal-specific sense (rearing) is a more specialized context, the core upward/standing meaning would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.

Etymology

Rise up comes from watching a horse or other animal push itself from four legs onto its back legs. The animal 'rises up' to stand taller, so it means 'to stand up on its hind legs'.