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Glite Dictionary
to put one's feet up

to put one's feet up

1 4.2
To relax while sitting or lying with your feet raised
  • phrasal verb
  • Informal
translation icon : relajarse
  • Finally, he spun his chair around, put his feet up on the bookcase behind him, and reached for a legal pad.
  • put his feet up on the desk
  • put his feet up on the couch
  • put his feet up at home

Examples

  • At night, he probably went home, put his feet up on the sofa, and watched telly all evening.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • "It's what I always thought I'd do in prison." Fred took off his shoes, sat in the hotel's chair, and put his feet up on the bed, looking out over the hotel's darkening river.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • We're gonna put our feet up and do nothing.

    Hungerford (2014)

  • Go home, put your feet up and enjoy it.

    The Damned United (2009)

  • Then we'll put our feet up, - and have a big party.

    The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)

  • I thought maybe we could, uh, put our feet up and kick back, and you can help me think this through.

    Corner Gas: The Movie (2014)

  • Fine, we'll sit in the living room, sit on the couch, put our feet up, discuss this man to man.

    Buried Alive (1990)

  • Satisfied, he finally laughs out loud and puts his feet up.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • Leo leans back in his chair, puts his feet up, and gazes out the window.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • After a long week at work, I plan to put my feet up and relax for the weekend.

Synonyms

to lie down
vsto put one's feet up
221 1.0

To put your body flat on a bed to rest or sleep

involves raising the legs while sitting or lying rather than simply lying flat
to curl up
vsto put one's feet up
  • Informal
57 2.8

To move your body so your arms and legs are close together to feel warm and safe

is about resting with raised legs rather than curling tightly for warmth
to stretch out
vsto put one's feet up
21 2.5

Lie down with your body straight to rest or relax

is about resting while raising the legs rather than lying fully extended
to take a load off
vsto put one's feet up
  • Informal
13 5.5

To sit down and rest after standing or working

focuses on relaxing by elevating legs while resting, not just sitting briefly
to put (one's) feet up
vsto put one's feet up
  • Informal
2.9

To rest with your feet raised

is the same meaning but written without optional parentheses

Antonyms

to be active
89 1.0

To move your body often by doing exercise or play

How Relaxed

to unwind
35 3.4
to relax
∞ 1.0
to put one's feet up
  • Informal
1 4.2
to lounge
12 2.7
to recline
11 3.2
to rest
816 1.0

Surface Forms

put one's feet up infinitive
put one's feet up past
put one's feet up past participle
putting one's feet up present participle
puts one's feet up third person singular

Morphology

put + one's + foot + up

The phrase literally combines 'put' (place), the possessive 'one's', 'feet' (the feet), and 'up' (to a higher position) so the action of raising one’s feet implies resting; the meaning 'to relax' is directly inferable from these constituents. This is a common, literal verb + particle construction and widely paralleled cross-linguistically, so an average B1 learner who knows the component words should understand it.

Etymology

Put one's feet up comes from the simple image of literally putting your feet up on a stool or cushion after hard work to feel more comfortable. So the phrase now means 'to relax'.