upper

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈʌp.ə/, US /ˈʌp.ɚ/^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Middle English up + -er, originally the comparative of up,^[2][3][4][5] replacing the earlier adjective over.^[3] Middle Dutch upper, Dutch opper, Low German upper and Norwegian yppare are similar formations.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Higher in position: about 1300 in Etymonline, “belonging to an elevated region”,^[2] and probably before 1300, in Kyng Alisaunder, in Barnhart.^[3] Hoad dates it to the 14th century but says it was not common before the 15th.^[5]

Semantic evolution

“Pertaining to the topmost part of an object” is from the late 14th century, and “chief, superior” from the mid-15th.^[2] Of peoples on higher ground, often also meaning “inland”, it is from the 1610s, as in High German.^[2] The upper hand, perhaps from wrestling, is from the late 15th century.^[2] The upper crust was the top crust of a loaf about 1460 and the higher circles of society from 1836,^[3][2] and the upper ten thousand (1844) the wealthy part of a community.^[2] The stiff upper lip is from 1833.^[2] The noun, the part of a shoe above the sole, is from 1789,^[3][2][6] with on one's uppers, “in poor circumstances”, from 1886.^[3][6] A stimulant drug is American slang from 1968, an agent noun from the verb up.^[3][2][6]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – higher in position.^[2][3]
• c. 1460 – upper crust of a loaf.^[3]
• late 15th century – upper hand.^[2]
• 1789 – noun, part of a shoe.^[3][6]
• 1833 – stiff upper lip.^[2]
• 1836 – the upper classes.^[3]
• 1886 – on one's uppers.^[3][6]
• 1968 – a stimulant drug.^[3][6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Higher in place, position or rank.
2. Situated on higher ground, or farther inland: the upper Nile.
3. Northern: upper New York State.
4. In geology, being a later division of a period.

Noun

1. The part of a shoe above the sole.
2. An upper berth or upper teeth.
3. (slang) A stimulant drug, especially an amphetamine.

Related words

• up
• uppermost
• utter
• over
• above

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press