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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

lawyer up en · VERB

Pronunciation

Meanings

  1. (US, informal, intransitive) To exercise one's right to legal representation; to engage the services of a lawyer.
    • By the time patrol cars got to the friend's house, so had her lawyer. With her attorney running blocker, police could not even ascertain if Grubman had been driving the car, says Suffolk County district attorney James Catterson. "She was lawyered up, as we like to say." 2001 July 15, Amanda Ripley, “Rage Of The Hamptons”, in Time, archived from the original on 29 Mar 2012:
    • You'd better lawyer up!
    • In the summer of 2019, when the boys are involved in the death of the young woman at that swimming hole, the parents of Barton Hills do what any caregivers might do, if they are rich or rich-adjacent. They lawyer up, and when this strategy fails to provide a sufficient shield between their boys and whatever they may or may not have been party to, the families up their game. 2022 April 5, Elizabeth Wetmore, “How Far Will Parents Go to Protect Their Sons?”, in The New York Times:
  2. (US, informal, intransitive) To conduct matters in accord with legal formalities or so as to avoid legal risk.
    • And I'll bet what you hated the most was that they identified me as a co-founder of Facebook, which I am. You better lawyer up asshole, because I'm not coming back for 30%, I'm coming back for EVERYTHING. 2010, Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network, spoken by Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield):
    • Whenever we do business with those guys, we lawyer up to protect ourselves.
  3. (informal, transitive) To arrange in a way reflecting legal advice.
    • By the time we finished lawyering up the agreement, we didn't want to sign it.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
lawyered up Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
lawyered up Tense=Past lexicographic
lawyers up Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
lawyering up Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic

Relateds

suit up · layer up · mask up

Translations (5)

pl skorzystać z usług prawnika (to engage the services of a lawyer) · pl korzystać z usług prawnika (to engage the services of a lawyer) · pl przygotowywać zgodnie z prawem (to arrange in a way reflecting legal advice) · pl przygotować zgodnie z prawem (to arrange in a way reflecting legal advice) · pl działać zgodnie z prawem (to conduct matters in accord with legal formalities)