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put up or shut up
Idioms and Phrases
Act on what you are saying or stop talking about it, as in You've been citing evidence for months but never presented itânow put up or shut up . This somewhat impolite term, often put as a command, is believed to come from gambling, in which a card player is told to ante up or withdraw. A second theory maintains that it means either put up your fists to fight or back down. [1870s] Also see put one's money where one's mouth is .Example Sentences
Some Conservative insiders also suggested Davies had not been shy in confronting his critics, in effect telling them to put up or shut up.
âWe gotta put up or shut up, I will say that,â Malloe said.
The White House hopes to capitalize on Republicansâ disarray, in effect calling their bluff and daring them to put up or shut up, although the hard-liners in the G.O.P. conference are unlikely to choose either option.
Itâs time to put up or shut up.
âHey Bobby! I donât think I need to tell you, but these people who want to get you in trouble and want to kick you out and make you run away, you make them put up or shut up!â
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American HeritageŸ Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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