Definitions

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

  • adjective Higher in place, position, or rank.
  • adjective Situated on higher ground.
  • adjective Lying farther inland.
  • adjective Northern.
  • adjective Geology & Archaeology Of, relating to, or being a later division of the period named.
  • adjective Denoting the smaller and usually less broadly representative house of a bicameral legislature.
  • noun The part of a shoe or boot above the sole.
  • noun Informal An upper berth.
  • noun Informal The upper teeth or a set of upper dentures.
  • noun A drug, especially an amphetamine, used as a stimulant.
  • noun An exhilarating or euphoric experience.
  • idiom (on (one's) uppers) Impoverished; destitute.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Higher.
  • Higher in place: opposed to nether: as, the upper lip; the upper side of a thing; an upper story; the upper deck.
  • Superior in rank or dignity: as, the upper house of a legislature; an upper servant.
  • Vamps and quarters of boots and shoes collectively. Also called simply uppers.
  • noun The upper part of a shoe or boot, comprising the vamp and quarters.
  • noun plural Separate cloth gaiters to button above the shoes over the ankle.

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

  • noun The upper leather for a shoe; a vamp.
  • Being further up, literally or figuratively; higher in place, position, rank, dignity, or the like; superior.
  • the superiority; the advantage. See To have the upper hand, under Hand.
  • (Eng. Hist.) the name of the highest court of common law (formerly King's Bench) during the Commonwealth.
  • the top one of a pair of compositor's cases. See the Note under 1st Case, n., 3.
  • (Zoöl.) one of the coverts situated above the bases of the tail quills.
  • (Naut.) the topmost deck of any vessel; the spar deck.
  • the leather for the vamps and quarters of shoes.
  • (Naut.) the strake next to the deck, usually of hard wood, and heavier than the other strakes.
  • [Colloq.] the ten thousand, more or less, who are highest in position or wealth; the upper class; the aristocracy.
  • (Naut.) the upper half of a double topsail.
  • (Naut.) all those parts of the hull of a vessel that are properly above water.
  • This world; the earth; -- in distinction from the underworld.

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

  • noun That which is higher, contrasted with the lower.
  • noun shoemaking The piece of leather, etc., that forms the top part of a shoe above the sole.
  • noun A stimulant such as amphetamine that increases energy and decreases appetite.
  • adjective At a higher level, rank or position.
  • adjective Situated on higher ground, further inland, or more northerly.
  • adjective archaeology, geology Of a later division of some period.
  • adjective education Of or pertaining to a secondary school.

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

  • adjective higher in place or position
  • noun the higher of two berths
  • noun a central nervous system stimulant that increases energy and decreases appetite; used to treat narcolepsy and some forms of depression
  • noun piece of leather or synthetic material that forms the part of a shoe or boot above the sole that encases the foot
  • adjective the topmost one of two
  • adjective superior in rank or accomplishment

Etymologies

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