sit-up-and-beg
English · Thesaurus
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sit-up-and-beg
- /ˌsɪtʌp(ə)n(d)ˈbɛɡ/ UK
- /ˌsɪtˌəpənˈbɛɡ/ US
Rhymes with -ɛɡ
Where it comes from
From sit up + and + beg, likening the position to a dog sitting up on its hindquarters and begging by holding its front paws out.
adjective
- Of a posture adopted by a person steering a vehicle (such as an aeroplane, car, or motorcycle): sitting up straight, not bent forward or leaning back. The pilot is thus in a sit-up-and-beg attitude and so seriously exposed to the elements that, as Wing Commander Wallis admits, a hailstorm would probably mean a forced landing.
- Of a bicycle: having handlebars that are rather high and curve backwards, so that the rider sits upright rather than hunching forward; also, of the handlebars of a bicycle: rather high and curving backwards, thus requiring the rider to sit upright. Manufacturers introduced many incremental improvements, […] By 1930 these changes extended the range of cycles that manufacturers could offer from the ‘roadster’ (steel frame, three-speed hub gears, level-operated brakes and ‘sit-up-and-beg’ handlebars) to lightweight racing bikes (alloy steel frame
noun sit-up-and-begs
-
A bicycle having handlebars that are rather high and curve backwards, so that the rider sits upright rather than hunching forward; a roadster.
I hadn't even found a proper bike shop – the one I did come across was full of the equivalent of our sit-up-and-begs.
Similar: high nelly
Talk about this word "sit-up-and-beg." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/sit-up-and-beg. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. sit-up-and-beg. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/sit-up-and-beg "sit-up-and-beg." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/sit-up-and-beg.Cite this
@misc{sit_up_and_beg_2026,
title = {sit-up-and-beg},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/sit-up-and-beg},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
