[From next.]
1. That part of a boot or shoe above the sole and welt. Usu. pl.
1845. J. Coulter, Adv. in Pacific, ix. 112. My shoes were … only held together by passing straps of goat-skin under the soles, over the uppers.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 4769. Grained leather; machine-closed uppers.
1880. Times, 21 Sept., 4/4. Forcing the needle through the outer sole, the edge of the upper, and the insole.
attrib. 1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Upper-machines,… those for cutting out or preparing the uppers of boots or shoes.
b. U.S. A cloth gaiter for wearing above the shoe over the ankle (Cent. Dict., 1891).
c. On one’s uppers, in poor or reduced circumstances; having hard luck. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
1891. Cent. Dict., s.v.
1901. Munsey’s Mag., XXV. 432/1. The rumor whirled about the Street that Greener was in difficulties. Financial ghouls … said … ‘Greener is on his uppers.’
1905. R. Marsh, Spoiler of Men, xxv. 227. ‘I’m on my uppers…. I want money. ‘So do we all.’
2. An upper jaw, dental plate, tooth, etc.
1878. C. Hunter, Mech. Dentistry, 79. In the case of edentulous or nearly edentulous uppers or lowers.
1900. Hutchinson’s Arch. Surg., XI. 222. On the backs of both uppers … there are now peculiar changes.
1904. F. P. Dunne, in Westm. Gaz., 14 Oct., 1/3. He [sc. a child] has two uppers an’ four lowers.
3. U.S. A log or piece of sawed lumber of superior grade.
1877. Lumberman’s Gazette, 24 May. The finest stock of uppers to be found in the country.
