What does stand someone up mean

She stood her date up. Would those actual words be used? They sound alien to me. The normal sentence follows other conversation about the incident that would have made it very clear who had been stood up - either by name or by description. The normal, natural sentence is: She stood him up. She stood up her date She stood up her date so that she could study for her final exam.

Thanks, Panjandrum! Actually, original sentences were: Mary stood her date up. I'd never heard of either one, but my university professor gave us a homework to tell the differences of the two. I lived in the U. Perhaps, it's something more linguistic than common English. I hear this expression all the time. In the States, I mean.

Do you think the reason some people do not hear this often could be that someone who got stood up doesn't want to talk about it? Anais Ninn said:. AND I didn't have any boyfriend. Maybe that's why! LV-4, That's funny.

EdisonBhola Senior Member Korean. Does "stand someone up" always have to be about a romantic relationship? If it's just failing to meet ordinary friends or random strangers, can we still use this expression? I think this expression is most often used in a "dating" context. But it is familiar enough to be also used in other contexts, perhaps adding an element of humour by association with the dating context. Silver Senior Member Chongqing. Chinese,Cantonese,Sichuan dialect. See post below this one.

Disappointed again, I am waiting. The foot steps have ceased, I 'm alone, With none but the stars and the zephyrs. To watch for my darling-my own. He bade me be here in the even, When the moon tipped the top of the trees, And the whip-poor-will's song in the woodland Floats lightly along in the breeze. However, it is easily explained, and Miss Kate will readily perceive that the young man whom she refers to as her darling— her own — was only perpetrating a practical joke upon her. According to her own statement, he bade her be there in the evening when the moon tipped the top of the trees; and, as the moon did not tip the top of the trees at all that evening, and has not tipped the top of the trees before or since, and couldn't if it tried, he was justified — by the letter of the contract — in going down to the village to play pool.

Such expressions as to stand someone up that are twisted and queer are mostly reduced from longer expressions with two verbs or two ideas.

One possible explanation for "She stood me up last night" might be:. She made me stand at the appointed place waiting for her till a reasonable time for her appearance was up. Over two or three generations such sentences can be reduced in various forms till at last something like "She stood me up" is reached.

For such twisted expressions of unknown origin one can only try to find plausible hypothetical explanations which might help get an understanding for such queer expressions. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group.

Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. What is the origin of the idiom "To Stand Someone Up"? Ask Question. Asked 5 years, 8 months ago.

Active 5 years, 8 months ago. Viewed 10k times. I was curious as to if anyone knew of the origins of the idiom "to stand someone up" in the sense of: My date stood me up. Do you think he'll stand us up again? She stood me up last night. Improve this question. BiscuitBoy There are many "folksy" origins for it, by which I mean cutesy stories claiming to be the origin of the phrase which are likely untrue.

Good question. The idiom has been around forever, but I've never seen any hint of an explanation for it. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. There isn't much to go on in the OED: To fail to keep an appointment with someone , esp.

Henley does not include the "missed date" meaning, serendipitously, I find an entry for stander-up : subs. American thieves a man who robs intoxicated persons under pretence of aiding them to go home.

Improve this answer. Hamlin remained silent, then he burst forth with a jeer. It ran thus: "Oh, how happy I expect soon to be. Other meanings of 'stand [someone] up' As choster notes in another answer to this question, "stand [someone] up" could also mean, in the late s, "rob [someone]" or presumably as a later development from that meaning "ask [someone] for money as a gift or favor. Yet another sense of the phrase is noted in the Butler [Pennsylvania] Citizen December 29, : "You are standing me up " is the latest phrase with the man who suspects he is being fooled.

Conclusions The idiomatic use of "stand [someone] up" to mean fail to appear as promised at a planned meeting place seems to go back to at least Community Bot 1. Sven Yargs Sven Yargs k 30 30 gold badges silver badges bronze badges. DavePhD: Excellent find. I don't know why my Ngram-based Google Books search failed to turn this instance up, but it didn't.

In any event, I'll add the instance to my answer, if you don't object. Earlier there is the "Ah There! Pickings from Lobby Chatter in the Cincinnati Enquirer", page , "I turned 'em away nightly last week, and I stood 'em up at every performance in Lampwick. Show 2 more comments. It seems to have an earlier meaning of more generally being stopped and made to wait.

There is the following statement from 21 May , report , page I said to the major, then, "The party has promised to telegraph me. To top. Sign up for free and get access to exclusive content:. Free word lists and quizzes from Cambridge. Tools to create your own word lists and quizzes. Word lists shared by our community of dictionary fans. Sign up now or Log in.

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