Etymologically
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uptown

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Pronunciation

  • US: /ˈʌptaʊn/, /ʌpˈtaʊn/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English up- + town.[2][3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Situated in or belonging to the upper part of a town or city: Merriam-Webster dates this adjective sense to 1796.[2][6] Etymonline's first record is of the adverb, "to or in the upper part of a town", in 1802, and it dates the adjective to 1838.[3] Dictionary.com gives 1830–40.[5]

Semantic evolution

Because the upper part of a town, especially of a port, was usually where people lived, the word took on the sense of a residential quarter as opposed to the commercial and industrial district.[3][2] The noun, the upper or residential part of a city, is dated to 1844 by Merriam-Webster.[2][6] The better-off residential districts gave it overtones of wealth: Etymonline dates the noun's sense "more prosperous area of town" to 1946,[3] and the adjective "upscale, prosperous" is recorded in American slang from 1946,[7] with Green's earliest clear American example of "sophisticated, rich" in 1926.[8] In American underworld slang of 1929, to uptown someone was to treat them haughtily,[8] and since 1980 uptown has been a drug users' name for cocaine, seen as the drug of the more affluent.[8][7] In Canada the noun can also mean the central business district of a small town.[9]

Timeline

  • 1796 – adjective, of the upper part of a town.[2]
  • 1802 – adverb, to or in the upper part of a town.[3]
  • 1844 – noun, the upper part of a town or city.[2]
  • 1926 – adjective, sophisticated, rich (US slang).[8]
  • 1929 – verb, to treat haughtily (US underworld slang).[8]
  • 1946 – noun, the more prosperous part of town; adjective, upscale.[3][7]
  • 1980 – noun, cocaine (US drug slang).[8][7]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. To, toward or in the upper part of a town or city, or its residential section: They took the subway uptown after the show.[2][10][4]

Adjective

  1. Situated in or belonging to the upper or residential part of a town or city.[2][10]
  2. Fashionable and upscale; affluent: an uptown restaurant.[2][8]

Noun

  1. The upper part of a town or city, especially its residential district.[2][10]
  2. (Canada) The central business district of a small town.[9]

Word family

  • uptowner

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c d Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  9. ^ a b Barber, Katherine, ed. (2004), The Canadian Oxford Dictionary, 2nd ed., Toronto: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins