up to something | Idiomator

Meaning: (idiomatic)Doing somethingmischievousorscheming.He looks like an angel, but I can tell he'sup to something.1871October 27, Prince McElhannon (witness), “The Ku-Klux Conspiracy”, inTestimony Taken by the Joint Select Committee to Inquire into the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States. Georgia, volume II, Washington, D.C.:Government Printing Office, published1872,→OCLC,page649:I took my mare and went down to the swamp, for I knew they had beenup to somethingthere from the signs I saw.1922February, L. B. Thoburn-Clarke, “Amid the Swamps. A True Story of New Zealand Life in the Early Days.”, inThe Boy's Own Paper, volume XXXVIII, part 4, London: "Boy's Own Paper" Office,[…],→OCLC, section II,page212, column 2:One or another of them will be poking their heads in and see we have beenup to something[...]1955January 22, S. Roberts, “The Man who Made the Grade: A Short Story”, in Ram Singh, A. K. Mukerji, editors,Thought, air edition, volume VII, number 4, New Delhi: Printed on behalf of Siddhartha Publications Ltd., by R. L. Chadha at Naya Hindustan Press,→ISSN,→OCLC,page10, column 1:One day Chander, who was alwaysup to something, took it into his head to ring up one or two customers in regard to bills long outstanding on them.2005August 25, Simon Cox, “A 'Neet' Solution”, inBBC News‎[1], archived fromthe originalon8 July 2018:If they are doing nothing they are going to beup to something– just send them to prison.2010,BioWare,Mass Effect 2(Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts,→OCLC, PC:Shepard: Last I knew,Kaidanwas Alliance. Why is he out in the Terminus Systems?Illusive Man: Officially, it's an outreach program to improve Alliance relations with the colonies.Illusive Man: But they'reup to something. And if they sent Commander Alenko, it must be big.2003December 13, “Crime scene”, inThe Age‎[2], Melbourne, Vic.:Nine Publishing,→ISSN,→OCLC, archived fromthe originalon18 September 2018:Police knew who they were. They knew they wereup to something. All they could do was wait.For more quotations using this term, seeCitations:up to something.

Examples:

EN: decent ... pfuih... this is all I have to say honored guest.... yes my dear you and getting up to something?
ES: decente... pfuih... esto es todo lo que tengo que decir... honorable invitado....
EN: - The boys are up to something. - Who are they?
ES: - Están tramando algo.
EN: - Of course you don't. But you're up to something.
ES: Por supuesto que no, pero tramas algo.
EN: You've been up to something.
ES: Algo has estado haciendo.
EN: That white man's up to something.
ES: Ese blanco se trae algo entre manos.
EN: They're safe here, aren't they? - You're up to something.
ES: ¡Pero no vas a salir de aquí hasta que no encuentres esas perlas!
EN: The minute you turn your back on them they're up to something or other they shouldn't be doing.
ES: - ¿Siempre son así? - Me temo que sí.
EN: Are you up to something bad?
ES: "¿Me estás ocultando algo?"
EN: I should've known he was up to something!
ES: ¡Debí imaginar que tramaba algo!
EN: When they start pulling the night work gag, they're up to something.
ES: Cuando empiezan con la excusa del trabajo nocturno, es que están tramando algo.
EN: - Does she have to be up to something?
ES: - ¿Tiene que tramar algo?
EN: Well, you look as if you had been up to something.
ES: Bueno, tengo la impresión de que habéis armado alguna.
EN: Well, we thought he was up to something, but never ..
ES: Sospechábamos de algo, pero no...
EN: - The Italian is up to something!
ES: ¡El italiano prepara un golpe! - ¿Esposito?
EN: When a husband's charming, he's up to something.
ES: Un marido es amable con su mujer cuando quiere embaucarla.

Note: the examples for non latin scripts have a high likelihood of mistakes, we do not own any of this data and it is sourced from Wiktionary, the NLLB database and Opensubtitles. Please help us improve this by contributing correct examples. We will be working to fix this issue over time however it is a bigger issue due to the the difficulties in dealing with non latin scripts and grammatical structures(non-romantic/european languages have lower resources as well ).