c. 1300, originally comparative of up (adj.). Similar formation in Middle Dutch upper, Dutch opper, Low German upper, Norwegian yppare. Upper hand "advantage" is late 15c., perhaps from wrestling (get the over-hand in the same sense is from early 14c.). Upperclassman is recorded from 1871.
Upper crust is attested from mid-15c. in reference to the top crust of a loaf of bread, 1836 in reference to society. Upper middle class (adj.) is recorded from 1835. Upper ten thousand (1844) was common mid-19c. for "wealthier and more aristocratic part of a large community;" hence uppertendom.
upper (n.)
"part of a shoe above the sole," 1789, from upper (adj.). Sense of "stimulant drug" is from 1968, agent noun from up (v.).
雙語例句
1. A cold is an infection of the upper respiratory tract.
感冒是上呼吸道的感染。
來自柯林斯例句
2. Many of the British upper classes are no longer very rich.
英國的上流社會許多人已不再富得流油。
來自柯林斯例句
3. They have purged thousands from the upper levels of the civil service.
他們從上層文職部門清除了上千名公務(wù)員。
來自柯林斯例句
4. He curled his upper lip in a show of scepticism.
他撇嘴表示懷疑。
來自柯林斯例句
5. I then went up to Lancaster University and got an upper second.