uphill

Etymology

It is formed from English up + hill.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} “Uppehill” is recorded as a surname from the late 12th century.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Merriam-Webster dates the adverb, "upward on a hill or incline", to 1535.^[3] The OED's earliest record is the noun, "an ascent, a steep rise", in 1548, in Udall's translation of Erasmus's Paraphrase of the New Testament;^[2] Dictionary.com dates the word 1540–50.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The adjective is first recorded in 1613, in Purchas, for "situated on high ground",^[2][3] and since 1622, in Bacon, for "leading upwards".^[2] The figurative sense "difficult, laborious", from the effort of climbing a hill, is as old, from the labour of climbing a hill:^[8] the OED dates it to 1622 and Etymonline to the 1620s.^[2][4] Johnson (1755) gave only this sense, "difficult; like the labour of climbing an hill", quoting Richardson's Clarissa.^[8] The OED dates the adverb to 1607, in Topsell,^[2] Etymonline to about 1600.^[4] In gamblers' slang uphills were false dice loaded to throw high numbers, recorded from 1699 to 1824 and listed in Grose's dictionary of 1785.^[2][4] The phrase uphill and downhill, alternately in good and low spirits, dates from 1681.^[2]

Timeline

• late 12th century – “Uppehill” as a surname.^[4]
• 1535 – adverb, upward on a hill.^[3]
• 1548 – noun, an ascent or steep rise.^[2][3]
• 1607 – adverb, towards the top of a hill (OED).^[2]
• 1613 – adjective, situated on high ground.^[2][3]
• 1622 – going upwards; difficult, arduous.^[2]
• 1699 – uphills, false dice (obsolete by 1824).^[2]
• 1785 – uphills in Grose's dictionary of slang.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Sloping or leading upwards; going up a slope: an uphill trail.^[9][3][2]
2. Needing great and lasting effort; arduous or laborious: an uphill struggle against the odds.^[9][3][2]
3. Situated on high ground.^[3][2]

Adverb

1. Up a slope; upwards: The cyclists pedalled uphill into the wind.^[9][3][2]
2. Against difficulties.^[9][3]

Noun

1. A rising slope; an ascent.^[9][3][2]

Related words

• downhill
• hill
• up

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins