square up
to adjust (something) so that it is square or rectangular:Use a mallet to square up the frame and check by measuring the diagonals—both dimensions should be the same.Your desk would look neater if you squared up the piles of papers so they don’t look so much like haystacks.
to pay, settle, or reconcile (an account, bill, ledger, etc.): We squared up with the cashier and checked out of the hotel.A property manager can help you collect dues, square up the books, and save money by negotiating discounts with local service providers.
to accord or agree (often followed by with):It’s a compelling thesis, but the evidence presented does not really square up with the theory.
to face or cause to face someone or something directly (often followed by to or with):Coaching manuals are fairly consistent in advising athletes to square up the body to the basket and jump vertically.First we square up, sitting or standing directly across from the other person, because effective, forthright communication is not assisted by angles.
to confront or face up to something, as a fight, challenge, or sporting match (often followed by to or against); square off: These strike actions are growing in regularity as businesses and the unions square up to each other.Malaysia will square up against Pakistan in their last round robin match on Thursday.
Baseball. to hit firmly or solidly: The pitcher’s breaking ball is impossible to square up when he keeps it low in the strike zone.
Origin of square up
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use square up in a sentence
Ginger shot off the couch and squared up with him, finger in his face.
Short Stories from The Daily Beast: Four Hundred Grand | Elliot Ackerman | July 6, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTI felt like barfing, my usual reaction to super high-profile TV appearances, but squared up because this was “Oprah.”
It is already laid out and squared up, from careful pencil drawings.
The Real Latin Quarter | F. Berkeley SmithIf the drawing is the same size as the canvas it is done by tracing, if not, then it is "squared up."
The Painter in Oil | Daniel Burleigh ParkhurstOnto this preparation the studies drawn from the nude model are "squared up," and the drawing corrected again from the nude model.
The Painter in Oil | Daniel Burleigh Parkhurst
Ah, his wickedness cost me many a heartache and many a tear, but the score was all squared up, then.
Alonzo Fitz and Other Stories | Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)"If you must have it, you shall;" and he squared up to him to administer righteous punishment.
A Maid of the Silver Sea | John Oxenham
British Dictionary definitions for square up
to pay or settle (bills, debts, etc)
informal to arrange or be arranged satisfactorily
(intr foll by to) to prepare to be confronted (with), esp courageously
(tr foll by to) to adopt a position of readiness to fight (an opponent)
(tr) to transfer (a drawing) by aid of a network of squares
Scot to tidy up
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with square up
Settle a bill or debt, as in The others went to get the car while he squared up with the waiter. This idiom derives from square in the sense of “set straight.” [Early 1800s]
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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