What does 'heads up' mean?

What it means: An advance warning or alert — giving someone information they'll need before it becomes urgent. "Just a heads up: the meeting has moved to 3pm" means "I'm telling you now so you're not caught off guard."

Why natives say this: It comes from sports — literally telling players to raise their heads and pay attention to an incoming ball. In everyday use, it signals: "pay attention, something relevant is coming."

• "Heads up — the client might call this afternoon."
• "I wanted to give you a heads up before the announcement."
• "Just a quick heads up: the system will be down tonight."

As a noun: "Thanks for the heads up" = thank you for warning me.

Register: Casual to professional. Common in workplace communication.

Tags: American English, warnings, workplace, communication