Obs. Also 1, 4 uppe-, 3 upe-, 4 oppe-, 6 uplande. [Subst. and adj. use of the phrase uppe land, in the country: see UP prep.1 5 a, and cf. UPONLAND adv.]
A. sb. The parts of a country outside the towns; the rural districts.
a. 1122. O. E. Chron. (Laud MS.), an. 1087, Se cyng … bead þæt ælc man … sceolde cuman to him … of porte & of uppelande.
1209. in Eng. Hist. Rev., Oct. (1901), 720. Altres gens et numeement cil de upelande.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 1315. Ȝyf þou do any man yn prysun,… Or bynde yn upland or in burgh.
1346. Little Red Bk. Bristol (1900), II. 14. Drap qest fulee sur oppelande.
c. 1350. Cron. London (Camden), 46. En cele temps fut le vj.me dener de bienz levé en Loundres et en autres cytés en Engletere, et sure upelond le x.me denier.
1377. Ann. Barber Surgeons (1890), 36. [Barbers from] uppelande.
c. 1500. World & Child, 579. Poore men that come from vplande.
c. 1510. Barclay, Mirr. Gd. Manners (1570), G iv. Forbidding great building sumptuous … in Countrey or uplande.
[1864. Sir F. Palgrave, Norm. & Eng., IV. 43. Rufus renewed his general summons to his English lieges. From … town and from upland they were called.]
B. adj.
1. Living out in the country; rustic, rural.
14[?]. in Sc. Acts Parlt. (1844), I. 339. Or þe borowyng of uplande mannis pundis.
1598. Hakluyt, Voy., I. 485. Taking away with him the vpland, or countrey people that should haue tilled the ground.
1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuff, E j b. Other engrating vpland cormorants will grunt out [etc.].
1615. Chapman, Odyss., I. 315. Kept alive Within an isle by rude and upland men.
1670. Milton, Hist. Eng., II. 48. In peace the Upland Inhabitants besides hunting tended thir flocks and heards.
Comb. c. 1611. Chapman, Odyssey, IX. 308. This heape of fortitude [sc. the Cyclops], That so illiterate was, and vpland rude.
2. Characteristic of the country; of rustic form or make. rare–1.
1666. Despauterius’ Gram. Inst. (1677), C j, Pero, peronis, an upland shooe.
