take up for
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take up for (someone or something)
To show one's support for someone or something; to provide help or assistance to someone or something. A man on the bus took up for the driver when a woman began screaming at him for being behind schedule. My father-in-law and I don't get along very well, but it meant a lot to me that he took up for me like that.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
take up for
Support in an argument, as in To our surprise her father took up for her fiancé. [Second half of 1800s]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
take up for
To support (a person or group, for example) in an argument.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.