Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adverb On high; overhead.
  • adverb In heaven; heavenward.
  • adverb Upstairs.
  • adverb To a degree that is over zero.
  • adverb In or to a higher place.
  • adverb In an earlier part of a given text.
  • adverb In or to a higher rank or position.
  • preposition Over or higher than.
  • preposition Superior to in rank, position, or number; greater than.
  • preposition Beyond the level or reach of.
  • preposition In preference to.
  • preposition Too honorable or proud to undertake.
  • preposition More than.
  • preposition Upstream of.
  • preposition North of.
  • noun An earlier part of a given text.
  • noun The person or persons already referred to in a text.
  • adjective Appearing earlier in the same text.
  • idiom (above all) Over and above all other factors or considerations.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In or to a higher place; overhead; often, in a special sense: In or to the celestial regions; in heaven.
  • Upstairs.
  • On the upper side (opposed to beneath); toward the top (opposed to below): as, leaves green above, glaucous beneath; stems smooth above, hairy below.
  • Higher in rank or power: as, the courts above.
  • Before in rank or order, especially in a book or writing: as, from what has been said above.
  • Besides: in the expression over and above.
  • Above is often used elliptically as a noun, meaning: Heaven: as, “Every good gift … is from above,” Jas. i. 17. Preceding statement, remarks, or the like: as, from the above you will learn my object. It has the force of an adjective in such phrases as the above particulars, in which cited or mentioned is understood.
  • In or to a higher place than.
  • Superior to in any respect: often in the sense of too high for, as too high in dignity or fancied importance; too elevated in character: as, this man is above his business, above mean actions.
  • More in quantity or number than: as, the weight is above a ton.
  • More in degree than; in a greater degree than; beyond; in excess of.
  • Synonyms Over, Above. See over.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adverb In a higher place; overhead; into or from heaven.
  • adverb Earlier in order; higher in the same page; hence, in a foregoing page.
  • adverb Higher in rank or power.
  • adverb More than.
  • preposition In or to a higher place; higher than; on or over the upper surface; over; -- opposed to below or beneath.
  • preposition Figuratively, higher than; superior to in any respect; surpassing; beyond; higher in measure or degree than
  • preposition Surpassing in number or quantity; more than. (Passing into the adverbial sense. See Above, adv., 4.)
  • preposition before every other consideration; chiefly; in preference to other things.
  • preposition besides; in addition to.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • preposition In preference to.
  • preposition Too proud to stoop; averse to; disinclined; too honorable to give.
  • preposition theater Upstage.
  • preposition Beyond; on the other side.
  • adverb biology On the upper half or the dorsal surface of an animal.
  • noun Something, especially a person name in legal documents, that appears higher on the same page or on a preceding page.
  • noun Higher authority.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adverb at an earlier place
  • adverb in or to a place that is higher

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English aboven, from Old English abūfan : a-, on; see a– + būfan, above; see upo in Indo-European roots.]

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Examples

  • Promoted to Headline (H3) on 4/29/09: Getting away with Murder: Whatever happened to 'above all, do no harm'? yahooBuzzArticleHeadline = 'Getting away with Murder: Whatever happened to \'above all, do no harm\'? '

    Getting away with Murder: Whatever happened to 'above all, do no harm'? 2009

  • Almost all are eagerly reaching forward to a station in life a little above what they can well afford, or struggling to do a business a little more extensive than they have capital or steady credit for; and thus they keep, all through life, _just above_ their means -- and just above, no matter by how small an excess, is inevitable misery.

    How to Get on in the World A Ladder to Practical Success Major A.R. Calhoon

  • Except a mineral be born "from above" -- from the Kingdom just _above_ it -- it cannot enter the Kingdom just above it.

    Natural Law in the Spiritual World Henry Drummond 1874

  • Just below the ice, in cold such as the above, the sea was found to be 29 degrees _above_ zero.

    The Ocean and its Wonders 1859

  • In general the mercury will stand either above or below the neutral point; if _above_, a portion of the mercury must have left the cistern, and consequently must have

    The Hurricane Guide Being An Attempt To Connect The Rotary Gale Or Revolving Storm With Atmospheric Waves. William Radcliff Birt 1842

  • It was a summer night -- she sat on a rude stone, the city on one side, with its lights and lamps; -- the whitened fields beyond, with the moon and the stars above; and _above_ she raised her streaming eyes, and she thought that God, the Protector, smiled upon her from the face of the sweet skies.

    Ernest Maltravers — Complete Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838

  • The above steps generate a CM package (. exe file) under \% windir\%\Program Files\CMAK\Profiles\Vista and above\ directory - with appropriate profile name on your server machine.

    TechNet Blogs rrasblog 2009

  • "You will please take notice that the Registrar or Minister is bound legally to send the notice of marriage referred to above, and also, that in reading it out _in the form, and with the accompanying remarks above_, you incur no legal penalty.

    Ireland Under Coercion (2nd ed.) (2 of 2) (1888) William Henry Hurlbert 1861

  • I choose to believe Your Word above my circumstances, above my feelings, and above the voices around me or mistakes from the past.

    Daily Readings from Love Your Life Victoria Osteen 2011

  • He pointed at the name above the tuning pegs, as if to say, “obviously!”

    Boredom & Ennui Christopher Snyder 2011

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