Idiom
shape up or ship out
Meaning
To either improve one's behavior or else be required to leave; to either improve one's performance in an activity or else withdraw from that activity completely.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“You must shape up or ship out if you want to keep this job.”
“The coach told the lazy players that they needed to shape up or ship out before the next big game.”
“Faced with declining productivity and repeated warnings, the manager informed the team that it was time to either shape up or ship out.”
Examples
simple
“You must shape up or ship out if you want to keep this job.”
contextual
“The coach told the lazy players that they needed to shape up or ship out before the next big game.”
complex
“Faced with declining productivity and repeated warnings, the manager informed the team that it was time to either shape up or ship out.”
Origin
WWII American military slang: perform properly or be shipped out to a combat posting or discharged.
Key words
Related idioms
- Level
- B1 · Intermediate
- Updated