up the river

[riv-er]

riv·er

1[riv-er]
noun
1.
a natural stream of water of fairly large size flowing in a definite course or channel or series of diverging and converging channels.
2.
a similar stream of something other than water: a river of lava; a river of ice.
3.
any abundant stream or copious flow; outpouring: rivers of tears; rivers of words.
4.
(initial capital letter) Astronomy. the constellation Eridanus.
5.
Printing. a vertical channel of white space resulting from the alignment in several lines of spaces between words.
6.
sell down the river, to betray; desert; mislead: to sell one's friends down the river.
7.
up the river, Slang.
a.
to prison: to be sent up the river for a bank robbery.
b.
in prison: Thirty years up the river had made him a stranger to society.

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Up the river is always a great word to know.
So is slumgullion. Does it mean:
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.

Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English < Old French rivere, riviere < Vulgar Latin *rīpāria, noun use of feminine of Latin rīpārius riparian

riv·er·less, adjective
riv·er·like, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Slang Dictionary

up the river definition


  1. mod.
    in prison. (Underworld.) : The judge who sent him up the river was indicted for accepting bribery. If Gary had only known sooner!
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases

up the river

To or in prison, as in They sent him up the river for five years. This phrase originally referred to Sing-Sing Prison, on the Hudson River about 30 miles north of New York City. So used from about 1890 on, it was broadened to apply to any prison by the early 1900s.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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