up
Please look up up in the dictionary to see its multiple meanings.
The sentence describes the action of consulting a dictionary to look up the word 'up' itself, exploiting 'up' as both phrasal-verb particle and as the word being searched.
Meanings (pronounced /ʌp/)
the second element of phrasal verbs like 'look up' (search), 'pick up' (collect), 'show up' (appear)
- Look up the word in a dictionary.
- Pick up your toys before bed.
toward a higher position or place; upward
- The balloon floated up.
- Look up at the stars.
Word origin
From Old English up, uppe ('up, upward'), from Proto-Germanic *upp ('up'), from Proto-Indo-European *upo ('under, up from below'). One of the most ancient and shortest words in English, with over a thousand years of continuous use. The same root underlies 'over', 'up', 'open', and 'above'.
Fun fact
'Up' is famously one of English's most semantically overloaded words. The phrase 'look up' alone has at least three meanings: to search a reference (look up a word), to direct your gaze upward (look up at the sky), and metaphorically to improve (things are looking up). English speakers parse the sense automatically from context — but tutorials for English-as-a-second-language often single 'up' out as one of the hardest particles to master.