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trip up

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.13 sec.
trip someone up 
1. Lit. to cause someone to trip; to entangle someone's feet. (Someone includes oneself.) The rope strewn about the deck tripped him up. The lines tripped up the crew.
2. Fig. to cause someone to falter while speaking, thinking, etc. Mary came in while the speaker was talking and the distraction tripped him up. The noise in the audience tripped up the speaker.
See also: trip, up

trip somebody up also trip up somebody
to cause someone to make a mistake The lawyer used what he knew about her personality to trip her up in court. I did fine on most of the test, but I tripped up on the last problem.
Etymology: based on the literal meaning of trip someone up (to cause someone to fall)
See also: trip, up


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