to put one's hand up

1 2.6

Raise your hand to show you want to take part

phrasal verb

: levantar la mano

Put your hands up and shout!
then put your hand up

Examples

Come on, put your hands up!

Here Comes the Boom (2012)
During the class discussion, Sarah quickly put her hand up to share her ideas.
Come on, Johnny O, put your hand up, please.

The Break-Up (2006)
Put your hands up in the air.

Above the Law (1988)
Put your hands up!

On Deadly Ground (1994)
Put your hands up!

On Deadly Ground (1994)
Put your hands up.

All the President's Men (1976)
Put your hands up!

On Deadly Ground (1994)
If you want to answer the question, you should put your hand up so the teacher can see you.
When the teacher asked for volunteers, Mark was the first to put his hand up.

Synonyms

to raise one's hand

vsto put one's hand up

9 1.6

Lift your hand to show you want to speak or ask a question

indicates willingness to participate or volunteer rather than general attention seeking

to put hand up

vsto put one's hand up

4 2.2

Raise your hand to show you want to speak or answer

has identical meaning but omits the possessive pronoun in form

Antonyms

to withdraw

466 2.8

To stop taking part in a place or activity

to keep quiet

90 2.5

To say nothing or not tell a secret

How Willing

to volunteer

391 2.0

to put one's hand up

1 2.6

to hesitate

318 2.5

Surface Forms

put one's hand up infinitive

put one's hand up past

put one's hand up past participle

putting one's hand up present participle

puts one's hand up third person singular

Morphology

put + one's + hand + up

The meaning 'to raise one's hand to volunteer' is directly derivable from the constituents: 'put' (place), 'one's hand' (the hand belonging to the speaker), and 'up' (raise). This describes a literal, physically motivated action common in classroom and group settings and is cross-linguistically familiar, so a B1 learner who knows the words would readily understand the phrase.

Etymology

Put one's hand up comes from classrooms and meetings where a person literally puts their hand up to show they want to speak or help. So, because the raised hand shows willingness, the phrase now means 'to volunteer' or 'to show you want to take part'.