[f. UP a. 1 + LAND sb., perhaps partly suggested by prec. Cf. ON. Upplǫnd pl., the name of the eastern inland counties of Norway; MSw. Upland (Sw. Uppland), a district in central Sweden; MDa. Opland Sweden, Norw. uppland, Da. opland the inland country.]
A. sb. 1. The part of a country lying away from the sea; the interior or high-lying districts. Also pl. Now arch.
1579–80. North, Plutarch (1595), 687. He determined to draw these pirats from the sea into the vpland.
1615. G. Sandys, Trav., 12. Smal watch-towers, which … do giue knowledge vnto one another (and so to the vpland) of suspected enemies.
1618. Bolton, Florus, III. vi. (1636), 193. Who transplanted this brood of Mariners … out of the very ken of the sea, and, as it were, teddred them fast in the uplands [L. mediterraneis agris].
1825. Jamieson, Suppl., Upwark, apparently, labour in the inland, or upland, as distinguished from employment in fishing.
1857. Hughes, Tom Brown, I. i. Leaving their mark in American forests and Australian uplands.
2. An area or stretch of high ground; a piece of high, hilly, or mountainous country. Usually in pl.
1566. Act 8 Eliz., c. 13 § 1. Beakons … in suche Place or Places of the Sea Shores and Uplandes neere the Sea costes.
1589. Fleminge, Virg. Eclogues, vi. 18. You the nymphs of woods, Close in the uplands [L. claudite saltus] of your woods.
1617. Brathwait, Law of Drinking, 147. Their Long Acres, Uplands and Downe-lands shall flie in a trice to retaine thee.
a. 1676. Hale, Prim. Orig. Man., II. vii. (1677), 192. The Downs or Uplands of Cammington in Huntingdonshire. Ibid., 200. The Up-lands in England yield strong, sinewy, hardy Men.
1724. De Foe, Tour Gt. Brit. (1742), I. 9. They generally chose to leave their own Lasses to their Neighbours out of the Marshes, and went into the Uplands for a Wife.
1764. Goldsm., Trav., 107. Its uplands sloping deck the mountain’s side.
1787. G. White, Selborne, i. At the foot of this hill, one stage or step from the uplands, lies the village.
1807. J. Barlow, Columb., I. 298. How slope their uplands to the morning sun!
1825–9. Mrs. Sherwood, Lady of Manor, I. vi. 176. A blue upland in the remotest distance finished this exquisite picture.
1879. Farrar, St. Paul, I. 414. He was working with Paul alone on the wild uplands of Lycaonia.
b. In sing, with the, or without article.
1699. Dampier, Voy., II. II. 111. The whole Country, the Up-land I mean, seems to be much the same [kind of soil].
1784. Cowper, Task, V. 197. As a shepherd separates his flock, These to the upland, to the valley those.
1813. Scott, Rokeby, V. ii. The eve, that slow on upland fades, Has darker closed on Rokeby’s glades.
1856. Merivale, Rom. Emp., xxxviii. IV. 359. They had emerged … from the woods, and had gained the open upland of swamp and moor.
1891. T. Hardy, Tess, viii. Their present speed on the upland being by no means slow.
3. High ground, as opposed to meadow or marsh; ground not liable to flooding; a stretch of this. Chiefly local and U.S.
1572. Kent & Surrey Sewers Comm. (1909), 115. Alle the vpp lande betwin Newington and Lambeth Sewinge to the same sluce.
1580. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 51. New broken vpland … for wheat is not best.
1598. Archdeaconry of Essex Minutes (MS.), fol. 49. Being sessed by the acar … at i4 the acre of vpland and ii4 the acre for marshe.
1639. in Coffin, Hist. Newberry, Mass. (1845), 29. All the upland and meadow and marish between us and Ipswich.
1696. Aubrey, Misc., 11. This Marsh-land … was never worth one Farthing to me, but very often eat into the Rents of the Up-land.
1708. Lond. Gaz., No. 4489/3. 46 Acres of Uplands, or Side-hill-Lands.
1763. Museum Rust., I. 307. If it was sowed in up-land,… you could not get the timothy-grass out of it.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist., I. 159. A large upland, with its houses, its corn, and cattle,… loosened from its place.
1833. Tennyson, Lady of Shalott, I. 34. The reaper weary, Piling sheaves in uplands airy.
1841. N. P. Rogers, in Whittier’s Prose Wks. (1889), II. 227. The Pemigewasset,… meandering from upland to upland through the meadows.
4. ellipt. in pl. Upland cotton. (Cf. B. 2 c.)
1858. Homans, Cycl. Comm., 448. Cotton … [exported from] Florida. To foreign ports—Uplands, 30,880 bales.
1880. C. R. Markham, Peruv. Bark, 468. Species of cotton…. New Orleans or ‘Uplands.’… ‘Uplands’ grown in India.
B. attrib. or as adj.
1. Of districts or places: Lying away from the sea or in the higher parts of a country; inland, remote.
1575. Russia (Hakl. Soc. No. 20), 9. The uplande countries of Russia … stretchethe exceding large and long.
1582. Batman, Barth. De P. R., XVIII. lxxxi. 376/2. The want of tillage … decayes villages, hamlets, and vpland townes.
1601. R. Johnson, Kingd. & Commw. (1603), 14. The vpland townes are fairer and richer, then those that stand nearer the sea.
1632. Milton, L’Allegro, 92. Som times with secure delight The up-land Hamlets will invite.
1829. Scott, Old Mort., Introd. The little upland village of Balmaclellan, in the Glenkens of Galloway.
1872. A. de Vere, Leg. St. Patrick, 73. Fire takes the little cot beside the mere, And leaps upon the upland village.
b. Living inland.
1716. B. Church, Hist. Philip’s War (1865), I. 92. Some … Narraganset Indians, and some other Upland Indians, in all about 300.
1870. Burton, Hist. Scot., lxvi. VI. 345. Among the upland folk of Scotland there were strong prejudices against all attempts to settle in distant wilds.
2. Lying higher than the surrounding country; forming part of an elevated area; situated on high ground.
1610. Norden, Spec. Brit., Cornw. (1728), 20. Their haye groweth comonly in the vplande and drye groundes.
1707. Mortimer, Husb., 12. The worst of Up-land Meadows is that they often need mending or feeding.
1731. Miller, Gard. Dict., s.v. Ranunculus, Take a Quantity of fresh Earth from a rich up-land Pasture.
1795. Southey, Joan of Arc, IX. 292. Dark on the upland bank The hedge-row trees … Rose on the grey horizon.
1843. Lytton, Last Bar., I. i. 23. The twin green hills … with the upland park and chase.
1879. A. R. Wallace, Australasia, ii. 15. These highlands generally present the appearance of hilly upland plains.
b. Living on, or frequenting, high ground. (In modern use freq. in specific names of birds, etc.)
1622. J. Taylor (Water P.), Farewell to Tower Bottles, A 4. When Vpland Trades-men thus dares take in hand A wat’ry buis’nesse, they not vnderstand.
1695. E. Gibson, trans. Camden’s Brit., 408. Fenmen, a sort of people … of brutish unciviliz’d tempers, envious of all others whom they term Upland men.
a. 1825. [see UPLANDER].
1859. Darwin, Orig. Spec., vi. 185. There are upland geese with webbed feet which rarely or never go near the water.
1867. Morris, Jason, IV. 2. The upland sheep Must guard themselves … Against the wolf.
1872. Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 260. Upland Plover. Field Plover.
1878. A. Pope (title), Upland Game Birds and Water Fowl of the United States.
c. Growing upon high ground; belonging to species growing or developed on high ground. Upland cotton, a class of short-stapled cotton. Also (of minerals, etc.), found on high ground.
1639. T. de Gray, Expert Farrier, 309. Fine upland hay, which was cut about midsummer.
1759. Miller, Gard. Dict. (ed. 7), s.v. Pasture, The best Sort of Upland Hay Seeds, taken from the cleanest Pastures.
1789. T. Wright, Meth. Watering Meadows (1790), 43. The hay of watered meadows is by no means equal in value to upland hay.
179[?]. Nemnich, Polyglot Lex., s.v., Upland willow. The red willow.
1796. Kirwan, Elem. Min. (ed. 2), II. 173. Upland Argillaceous Iron Ore.
1832. McCulloch, Dict. Commerce, 409. The upland or bowed Georgia cotton forms the … best portion of the short stapled class.
1833. G. B. Wood & Bache, Dispensatory (1865), 710. Rhus glabrum..., called variously smooth sumach, Pennsylvania sumach, and upland sumach.
1858. Homans, Cycl. Comm., 436/1. The upland cotton is a different species from the sea-island.
1894. Yellow Book, I. 189. Where the upland hay … stretched thirstily up to the clouds.
d. Flowing down from higher ground.
1653. Blithe, Eng. Improver Impr., 56. Cleer from any Land-floods, or up-land waters running through them.
1707. Mortimer, Husb., 18. Fenny Lands … drowned by Upland-floods and great Rains.
