het up

== English == === Etymology 1 === Irregular form of heat up. The adjective was originally a metaphorical use of the past participle het up (“heated up”), perhaps as a reference to agitation caused by fever or the churn of boiling water, but has since lexicalised as a fossil in standard English. ==== Alternative forms ==== heat up, heated up, heaten up, hetted up ==== Verb ==== het up (dialectal) simple past and past participle of heat up ==== Adjective ==== het up (comparative more het up, superlative most het up) (chiefly colloquial, originally figurative) Excited, agitated or frantic. ===== Usage notes ===== Although colloquial, the adjective het up (“excited; agitated; frantic”) is used and understood in most major varieties of English. However, many modern speakers no longer associate het up with the verb heat up, since het (“heated”) has been fully displaced as the past form of heat in the standard language, so the connection to the original metaphor has been lost. As such, speakers may misinterpret dialectal uses of the literal past participle het up (“heated up”) as the adjective het up (“excited; agitated; frantic”) without further context. === Etymology 2 === ==== Verb ==== het up (third-person singular simple present hets up, present participle hetting up, simple past and past participle hetted up or het up) dialectal form of heat up