# set up

Pronunciation: say "set-UP" /ˌsɛt ˈʌp/

## Phrasal verb

1. To get something ready so that it can be used.
   - Simple: To put something together or in place so it is ready to use.
   - _The band arrived early to set up their equipment before the doors opened._
   - _Volunteers were setting up chairs in the gym for the town meeting._
2. To found or start something such as a business, an organization, or a scheme.
   - Simple: To start a new business, group, or plan.
   - _After retiring, she set up a charity that pays for music lessons for children._
   - _The government is setting up a fund to help farmers hit by the drought._
3. To cause or bring about an event or situation.
   - Simple: To make something happen.
   - _The semifinal victory sets up a rematch with last year's champions._
   - _Cold air moving over the warm lake can set up bands of heavy snow downwind._
4. To get things ready for use before an activity begins.
   - Simple: To get things ready before something starts.
   - _Vendors set up at dawn along Main Street, hours before the market opened._
   - _The photographer asked for twenty minutes to set up before the shoot._
6. To trick or lure someone into a trap, often so that they take the blame for a crime. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To trick someone so that they get caught or blamed for something.
   - _The defense argued that the informant had set up their client to win a lighter sentence for himself._
   - _The dealer realized too late that the buyer was a cop and he had been set up._
7. To act as a matchmaker, arranging a date between two people.
   - Simple: To plan a date for two people you think would like each other.
   - _Her coworkers kept trying to set up the new guy with someone from accounting._
   - _They were set up by mutual friends and married two years later._
8. To provide someone with what they need to begin in a business or a position.
   - Simple: To help someone start in a business or job.
   - _A wealthy patron set up the young painter in a studio overlooking the harbor._
   - _Once his son was set up in the trade, the old printer finally retired._
9. To give someone the money or other support they need for an important task or activity.
   - Simple: To give someone the money or help they need for something important.
   - _The inheritance left her set up for life, with no need to work again._
   - _The foundation sets up young researchers with lab space and a year of funding._
10. To arrange things in a sensible, logical order.
   - Simple: To put things in a clear order that makes sense.
   - _Before the exam, he set up his notes by topic so he could find things quickly._
   - _The librarian is setting up the new collection by author and date._
11. To arrange the result of a contest or event dishonestly; to rig it.
   - Simple: To secretly fix how something will end, like a game or a vote.
   - _Investigators found that gamblers had set up the match by bribing two referees._
   - _The quiz show was set up, with the winner fed the answers in advance._
13. To create a scoring chance for a teammate, or to make the play that leads to a goal.
   - Simple: In sports, to give a teammate a good chance to score.
   - _The midfielder set up both goals, threading passes through the defense._
   - _Her quick pass set up the forward for an easy tap-in._
14. To become firm, thickening into a gel or hardening solid.
   - Simple: To become firm or hard.
   - _Let the custard set up overnight before you slice the pie._
   - _Concrete poured in cold weather takes longer to set up._
16. To make someone feel proud of themselves, or conceited.
   - Simple: To make someone feel proud, or too pleased with themselves.
   - _Early praise can set up a young writer so much that she stops listening to her editors._
   - _The young officer was rather too set up by his quick promotion._
17. To fool an opponent with a punch or move and then exploit the reaction, as by drawing an opening for the next blow.
   - Simple: In boxing, to trick the other fighter with one move so you can hit them with the next.
   - _The veteran set up his younger opponent with a feint to the body and caught him with a hook._
   - _Fighters who can set up opponents patiently rarely need to brawl._
18. To lay public claim to a character or quality, or to pretend to have it.
   - Simple: To say openly that you are something, often when it is not really true.
   - _Critics who set up as guardians of good taste are often the first to be mocked._
   - _He set up for a man of learning, though he had read little beyond the newspapers._
19. Of the water level, to rise in one part of a lake or other body of water, especially a shallow one, as persistent wind drives a storm surge.
   - Simple: Of water, to rise higher at one end of a lake or bay because a strong wind keeps blowing.
   - _Sustained north winds can make the water set up several feet at the south end of a shallow lake._
   - _Boaters were warned that the water in the sound would set up overnight as the gale drove it toward shore._
20. To cause birds or other creatures to take flight; to flush them into the air.
   - Simple: To scare birds so that they fly up into the air.
   - _The beaters moved through the heather, setting up grouse for the guns._
   - _A low plane over the marsh can set up thousands of geese at once._

## Noun · set-up

Pronunciation: say "SET-up" /ˈsɛt ˌʌp/

5. Alternative form of setup. *(British)* — Alternative form of setup.
   - Simple: Alternative form of setup. This spelling, with a hyphen, is used mostly in British English.
   - _The manager switched to a three-at-the-back set-up after the break._
   - _Police insisted the raid was genuine, but his solicitor called it a set-up._

## Adjective

12. Ready, and in a position to work or function.
   - Simple: Ready to work, with everything in place.
   - _Once we're set up in the new office, we can start taking clients again._
   - _The kitchen crew was fully set up an hour before the first guests arrived._

## Phrasal verb

15. To start up in business, or to begin a particular way of life. *(dated)*
   - Simple: To start a business or begin a new way of living.
   - _Having learned the craft as an apprentice, he set up in trade as a cabinetmaker._
   - _Many young lawyers dream of setting up for themselves instead of joining a big firm._
21. To arrange pieces of type in a composing stick for printing; to typeset. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To put the small metal letters in order before printing a page.
   - _Working by candlelight, the journeyman set up the sermon letter by letter in his composing stick._
   - _It took two compositors a full day to set up the broadside in type._

## Origin

Deverbal from set up.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/set-up (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).