thank you for "heads-up time"

[Professor Annette Karmiloff-Smith]

several people have replied (see below), so no more needed thanks.
Annette

 From Paul Bloom:
Hi Annette,

I've heard "heads-up" as a noun, meaning "warning", e.g.,

-- I should give you a heads-up about your new dean.

It's also has a meaning in poker, meaning to play one-on-one, e.g.,

-- After the other 8 players left, Mark and Pat played heads-up for
several hours.

If someone said "It's heads-up time", it COULD possibly mean "It's time
for me to give you a whole lot of warnings about a certain topic". But
this sounds a bit weird, as if someone said "It's warning time".

But it would be a pretty natural way of announcing that we've entered
the stage of
a poker tournament where only two players are left.

Hope this is of help. Best,

--pb


 From Linda Cote
It means it's time to pay attention.  This phrase is common in baseball or
softball, for example, if you're out in the field and the coach knows the
batter is likely to hit the ball your way, (S)he might tell you, "heads up".



 From From: "Paul Evseroff"

Yes it does Annette, It means " Watch Out For "