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View synonyms for heads up

heads up

1

interjection

  1. (used to call attention to an impending danger or the need for immediate alertness.)


heads-up

2

[ hedz-uhp ]

adjective

  1. quick to grasp a situation and take advantage of opportunities; alert; resourceful.

noun

  1. a warning in advance:

    sending a heads-up to the Pentagon about possible attacks.

heads up

noun

  1. a tip-off or small amount of information given in advance


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Word History and Origins

Origin of heads up1

First recorded in 1940–45

Origin of heads up2

First recorded in 1945–50

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Idioms and Phrases

A warning to watch out for potential danger, as in Heads up, that tree is coming down now! The expression is generally in the form of an interjection. [c. 1940]

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Example Sentences

Cinema Services gave him the heads-up that Sony was going forward with the December 25 release.

Lehmberg also heads up the Public Integrity Unit that investigates government corruption.

My soldiers held their heads up high and handed the city over to the next unit.

Many have visible injuries or are so sick with flu they cannot hold their heads up.

The writer, Phil Bronstein, who heads up the Center for Investigative Reporting, stands by the story.

Theyll hang our heads up, and theyll burn the Silver Fleece and bootcher all hands, drifted in the far, slow cry of Mr. Scurlock.

For I'm werry highly connected, as a gent, sir, can understand; And my family hold their heads up with the very furst in the land.

If these people around here could get their heads up long enough from grubbing in the muck they wouldn't stay here over night.

The shipping clerk, as he heads up his barrels and boxes, can be sending out and up his current of prayer.

A few of the flock watched him, but most of them stood with their heads up the slope facing the wildly bounding stones.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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