put up or shut up

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Verb

put up or shut up (third-person singular simple present puts up or shuts up, present participle putting up or shutting up, simple past and past participle put up or shut up)

1. (idiomatic) To desist from saying something unless one is able to prove it; to act in a manner that makes further talk unnecessary.
   • 2005 June 21, Cornelia Dean, "Opting Out in the Debate on Evolution ," New York Times (retrieved 22 June 2011):

     "If the evidence for modern Darwinian theory is so overwhelming, they should have called the bluff on the other side and come and made their arguments. ... They should have put up or shut up."

See also

• put one's money where one's mouth is
• fish or cut bait

References

• “put up or shut up”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.