putupto (third-person singular simple presentputs up to,present participleputting up to,simple past and past participleput up to)
- (idiomatic) Toencourage ortrick (someone) to perform an action which isfoolish orwrong.
1895,Stephen Crane,A Mystery of Heroism:"He's goin' to that well there after water."
"We ain't dyin' of thirst, are we? That's foolishness."
"Well, somebodyput him up to it, an' he's doin' it."
1896,Mark Twain, chapter 11, inTom Sawyer, Detective:"I done the other things—Brace heput me up to it, and persuaded me, and promised he'd make me rich, some day, and I done it, and I'm sorry I done it."
1936 December 21, “Foreign News: Gloucester”, inTime, retrieved2 July 2015:This week in London the hero of Mayfair matrons is the next-to-youngest brother of Edward VIII, His Royal Highness Henry, the Duke of Gloucester. . . . Gloucester's young Scottish Duchessput him up to telling the King-Emperor after Mrs. Simpson's departure (TIME, Dec. 14), "You are a damn fool if you run after her now!" For his pains, Gloucester got slapped.
2008 April 29, Marc Lacey, “'Virtual kidnappings' in Mexico play on very real fears”, inNew York Times, retrieved2 July 2015:[T]hree suspects were brothers, ages 19, 31 and 34, who were caught collecting money squeezed from a victim. The two younger brothers blamed their older sibling, who has been in and out of prison for years, forputting them up to it.
- Usually followed immediately by the pronounit, whoseantecedent is given in the context.
