surf's up

8 9.1

The waves are good for riding on a surfboard

idiom
/sɜrfs ʌp/

Informal

: ¡a surfear!

Surf's up, guys.

Examples

Surf's up, huh?

Sharp (2013)
Um, surf's up, you guys-

The Angry Birds Movie (2016)
Surf's up, New York!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016)
Surf's up!

Sausage Party (2016)
Surf's up, dude!

Bee Movie (2007)
As for rising sea levels—grab your board, surf's up!

Blog text (12)
Hey, surf's up! The waves are perfect for riding today.
Check it out, surf's up! We should grab our boards and head to the beach.
Get ready, everyone! Surf's up, and the conditions are fantastic for surfing.

Surface Forms

surf's up main

Morphology

surf's + up

This is a contracted copular phrase ('surf's up' = 'the surf is up'); a learner who knows 'surf' (the waves) and 'up' meaning high/available/good can infer that wave conditions are suitable for surfing. The meaning follows a common and compositional pattern (noun + copula + adjective), so it is immediately derivable rather than idiomatic.

Etymology

Surf's up comes from surfers shouting when the surf was up and the waves were high, so everyone knew the sea was ready to surf. That's why it now means 'perfect for surfing'.