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Glite Dictionary
to put up or shut up

to put up or shut up

6 7.7
Tell someone to do what they say or stop talking
  • idiom
  • Slang
translation icon : actúa o cállate
  • You've made a lot of promises; now it's time to put up or shut up.
  • put up or shut up time
  • tell them to put up or shut up
  • say, 'put up or shut up'

And so that was a real an opportunity for me to, you know, put up or shut up.

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Examples

  • My message to the University of Kansas football team is this: put up or shut up.

    Blog text (29)

  • Members of the Progressive Caucus, however, realized that people were laughing and it was time to "put up or shut up."

    Blog text (4)

  • Gentlemen, put up or shut up.

    3 from Hell (2019)

  • It's time to go, and it's time to put up or shut up, so I want the ball.

    Blog text (18)

  • Then it was time for him to put up or shut up.

    Blog text (26)

  • At some point, the Republicans simply need to say, "put up or shut up."

    Blog text (11)

  • I'm calling them out, put up or shut up.

    Blog text (22)

  • Come on, Richie, put up or shut up.

    Savage Streets (1984)

  • Time to put up or shut up, Mr. Astrophysicist.

    Blog text (26)

  • Well, you brought me out here to see some coral reefs, so it's time to put up or shut up.

    Temptation Under the Sun (2022)

Synonyms

speak now or forever hold your peace
vsto put up or shut up
  • Formal
2 8.5

Ask anyone who objects to speak now or be silent forever

asks someone to act on what they say or stop talking about it
shit or get off the pot
vsto put up or shut up
  • Offensive
1 9.9

Tell someone in a rude way to decide now or stop wasting time

tells the person to act on their claim or stop talking

Antonyms

all talk
  • Informal
1 5.5

A person or thing that makes big promises but does not act

Surface Forms

put up or shut up infinitive
put up or shut up past
put up or shut up past participle
putting up or shutting up present participle
puts up or shuts up third person singular

Morphology

put + up + or + shut + up

The second half 'shut up' (be quiet) is transparent to a B1 learner, but the first half 'put up' in this construction means 'produce evidence or act on a claim', which is metaphorical and not a common literal use of 'put' + 'up'. Because one constituent is clear but the crucial action sense of 'put up' is idiomatic and requires prior exposure, the phrase is only partially predictable.

Etymology

Put up or shut up may come from old bets: if someone made a claim in a bet they had to put up the money or prove it, or else shut up and be quiet. So today it means 'either take action on what you say or stop talking'.