fess up

fess up

slang To tell the truth about something. "Fess" here is a shortening of "confess." Come on, fess up—you took the money that was on the counter, didn't you? Can you believe that guy fessed up to all three robberies?
See also: up
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

fess up (to something)

to confess to having done something. (Short form of confess.) I tried to get the boy to fess up to doing it, but he wouldn't do it. Come on, fess up.
See also: up
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

fess up

v. Slang
To admit to something; confess something: The treasurer fessed up when confronted with the evidence of fraud. The gangster fessed up to the crime.
See also: up
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • prostie
  • prosties
  • reg
  • cig
  • cuz
  • clitty
  • there is many a slip twixt cup and lip
  • there's many a slip
  • there's many a slip twixt cup and lip
  • twixt
References in periodicals archive
So I wouldn't 'fess up. Apart from anything else, your son probably wouldn't believe you.
They 'fess up to their mistakes, like falling into the popularity trap, plus they give real-girl advice on dances, clothes and cool comebacks to peer pressure.
What if those corporations were compelled to 'fess up to the arrangements they've made to secure access to oil fields, revealing precisely how--and how much--they paid off?
The Johnston police have to fess up to the fact that they were not doing smart police work.
Other reviewers have already hailed Pinker's latest as "always sparkling," calling Pinker himself "a top-rate writer" who "deserves the superlatives that are lavished on him" Well, yes, but won't anyone else 'fess up and say that much of the book is unreadable?
BEING a non-Catholic with a persistent Catholic guilt the size of The Vatican City, i feel i've got to 'fess up to an embarrassing addiction.
Kline refuses to fess up until tabloid reporter Tom Selleck gives hint a long-lasting, full-on lip lock that sends poor Kevin hurtling out of the closet.
Just say something like, "Hey, I doubt you would ever let a boy come between our friendship, but you really seem to like my BF." At this point, your pal might 'fess up and tell you she's sweet for your sweetie.
Surely now it's time for The Donald (as he pathetically likes to be known) to 'fess up to where his bizarre head of hair originated.
When you mess up, you've got to 'fess up. Sure, it's definitely tough to tell a very angry parental unit that you were at a party Friday night, not the late-night showing of Scooby-Doo 2.
GL caught up with Kaley and Amy, and forced them to 'fess up....
But the 48-year-old - linked with The Body for a year now - still won't 'fess up. At his new Brilliant Women photo exhibition before the gig, he told us: "I like to keep people guessing, it's more fun."