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The meaning and origin of the expression: Het up

Het up

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What's the meaning of the phrase 'Het up'?

To be het-up is to be extremely agitated.

What's the origin of the phrase 'Het up'?

The meaning and origin of the phrase 'Het up'.Het up is an odd expression as het isn't a word we use in any other context. Actually het is a shortened form of heated and has been used that way since the 14th century, although it fell out of use as a standalone word in the late 19th century.

That simple literal meaning of het up as hot is first recorded in the US newspaper The Freeborn County Standard, July 1884:

"Set it right down here by the fire Susan, so 't'll get het up before you knead it into loaves."

The first record I can find of someone using het up to mean agitated is in a work by the American physician S. W. Mitchell in 1886:

"I don't het up easy."

Gary Martin - the author of the phrases.org.uk website.

By Gary Martin

Gary Martin is a writer and researcher on the origins of phrases and the creator of the Phrase Finder website. Over the past 26 years more than 700 million of his pages have been downloaded by readers. He is one of the most popular and trusted sources of information on phrases and idioms.

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