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Glite Dictionary
up and down

up and down

208 1.9
Moving both ways along the whole length of something
  • idiom
translation icon : arriba y abajo
  • She paced up and down the hallway, waiting for her interview to start.
  • move up and down
  • walk up and down
  • jump up and down

It's oscillating, it's going up and down at all times, right?

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Examples

  • We've got nice clusters of fruit all up and down these plants.

  • The reason is because they were running up and down stairs.

  • You are going to move up and down or left, Right or left.

  • You walk up and down this block like you own it.

    Do the Right Thing (1989)

  • So we adjust them up and down based on age and gender.

    Andrew Huberman

  • Families, children, all lined up in rows, up and down these streets.

    Halloween (1978)

  • The users then walked up and down the corridor using voice input.

    Academic text (2000)

  • I would watch Donnie's dad walk up and down the street.

  • We are lulled to sleep by frogs calling to each other up and down the river.

    Academic text (1993)

  • So I've been carrying barrels up and down this pub, up and down the stairs.

Synonyms

back and forth
vsup and down
374 2.0

Moving one way and then the other again and again

is about moving across the whole length or area rather than simple repeats
backwards and forwards
vsup and down
  • UK
7 3.2

To move one way and then the other way again and again

is about movement across a whole length or area rather than repeated short moves

Antonyms

still
∞ 1.0

Not moving or making a sound

stationary
46 2.9

Not moving and staying in one place

How Variable

erratic
94 6.1
up and down
208 1.9
intermittent
35 6.5
steady
304 2.0

Surface Forms

up and down positive

Morphology

up + and + down

The meaning 'in both directions, back and forth' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'up' and 'down' with 'and' signaling alternation or extent; a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will readily infer this spatial/motion sense. This compositional pattern is cross-linguistically common and follows standard English coordinate movement expressions, so prior exposure is not required for comprehension.

Etymology

Up and down comes from the simple image of moving up and down along something, like an elevator or someone looking the whole length of a street. So it means 'in both directions' or 'back and forth' across an area.