Upwards

adv. and prep. Forms: 1 up-, uppweardes, 2, 5–6 upwardes (6 upp-), 5, 6 vpwardes, 6–7 vp- 7– upwards (7 upp-); 6 Sc. vpwartis, 9 dial. up-, uppards, etc. [OE. up-, uppweardes, f. upweard UPWARD adv. + -es of adv. genitive: see -WARDS. Cf. OS. upwardas, MLG. upwordes, MDu. op-, upwaerts, -werdes, etc. (Du. opwaarts), MHG. ufwertes (G. aufwärts).]

  A.  adv. I. 1. a. = UPWARD adv. 1 a.

  † To make upwards (quot. 1575): see MAKE v.¹ 45.

c. 888.  K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxxiv. § 10. Þæt he onʓinð of þæm wyrtrumum & swa upweardes grewð oð ðone stemn.

a. 1000.  Boeth. Metr., xiii. 62. Sio sunne … stihð a upweardes, oð hio eft cymeð þær hire yfemesð bið eard ʓecynde.

c. 1410.  Master of Game (MS. Digby 182), xiii. Þe tayle … streight and a litell crompynge vpward [MS. Reg. vpwardes].

1575.  Turbervile, Faulconrie, 158. To make a high fleeing Hawke vpwards. Ibid. It hapneth oftentimes that a hawke … wil yet be long before she be made upwards.

1578.  Banister, Hist. Man, V. 76. The vretarie vessels … also prohibite that vpwardes none [sc. urine] may returne agayne.

1613.  Bible, Gen. vii. 20. Fifteene cubits vpwards [1611 vpward], did the waters preuaile.

1647.  Cowley, Mistr., My Fate, i. Go bid the Stones a journey upwards make.

1711.  Addison, Spect., No. 62, ¶ 5. His ambitious Love is a fire that naturally mounts upwards.

1786.  Pinkerton, Anc. Sc. Poems, I. p. lxvii. Their shoulders are moved upwards and downwards.

1815.  J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 189. A dry glass rod or tube, rubbed … upwards and downwards with a dry hand.

1827.  Faraday, Chem. Manip., iv. (1842), 89. Another … mode … is to continue the furnace upwards by a deep ring.

1858.  Glenny, Gard. Every-day Bk., 230/2. These … trailing plants … are more frequently trained upwards.

  fig.  1828.  Lytton, Pelham, II. xvi. Men … who join ignorance of every principle of legislation to indifference for every benefit to the people:… who level upwards, and trample downwards.

1905.  Forsyth, in Contemp. Rev., Oct., 581. The Christ needs the apostle, the preacher. The Mediator upwards needs mediators downwards.

  transf.  1907.  J. H. Patterson, Man-Eaters of Tsavo, viii. 87. Lions always begin at the tail of their prey and eat upwards towards the head.

  Comb.  1844.  Noad, Electricity (ed. 2), 272. The upwards bent platinum wire.

  b.  = UPWARD adv. 1 b.

c. 890.  Wærferth, trans. Gregory’s Dial., 286. Þa færinga locode heo uppweardes,… & ʓeseah þone hælend þider cuman to hire.

c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., III. 38. Nim mid þinum twam handum uppeweardes.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 59. Neb upwardes he him [sc. man] wrohte.

c. 1400.  Pepysian Gosp. Harmony (1922), 70. Jesus … wiþstoode and bihelde hym vpwardes.

1648.  Hexham, II. Opwaerts sien, to See upwards, or to Looke on high.

1709.  T. Robinson, Vind. Mosaick Syst., 112. Man … hath his Head upwards towards Heaven.

1795–6.  Wordsw., Borderers, II. 988. Upwards I cast my eyes. Ibid. (1805), Prelude, VII. 200. Behold, turned upwards, a face hard and strong In lineaments.

1817.  Shelley, Rev. Islam, V. xlix. She paused, and pointed upwards.

1860.  Tyndall, Glac., I. ii. 21. Looking upwards we saw a series of coloured rings.

  c.  fig. UPWARD adv. 1 c.

1557.  in Lodge, Illustr. Brit. Hist. (1791), I. 274. Prisoners … of the degree of a Baron, or uppwardes.

1605.  in Archaeologia (1800), XIII. 321. The lorde who beeinge an earle or upwardes,… is to have … a cloathe of estate.

1732.  Berkeley, Alciphr., V. § 33. The army; wherein the tendency is always upwards from lower posts to higher.

1855.  Poultry Chron., II. 423. The character of the … fowls proves that their progress is upwards in quality.

  attrib.  1849.  Robertson, Serm. (1863), 160. Not mere change, but true, ever upwards progress.

  d.  = UPWARD adv. 1 d.

1874.  Times, 1 Jan., 7/6. Coffee.—A strong demand prevail with few sellers, and the market still tends upwards.

1875.  Economist, 2 Jan., 5/2. Straits tin … after a moderate reaction upwards fell to 92l 5s in August.

  2.  = UPWARD adv. 2.

1513.  Douglas, Æneid, VIII. ii. 65. Bayth nycht and day ilk man … Can spend in routh … Our slidand fast vpwartis the river.

1538.  in Lett. Suppress. Monast. (Camden), 245. I am cumyng upwardes [= to London] as fast as my sekenes will suffre me.

1598.  W. Phillip, trans. Linschoten, I. x. 19. First Daman, from thence fifteene miles vpwardes … the towne of Basaün.

1601.  Hakluyt, Galvano, 90. From thence vpwards … he went along the coast of the Abassins.

1662.  R. Venables, Exper. Angler, x. 99. In small Brooks you may angle upwards.

1801.  Rusher’s Reading Guide, 7. The Mail Coaches to and from Bath, Bristol, &c. pass upwards and downwards every night.

1869.  Tozer, Highl. Turkey, I. 184. We followed this stream upwards.

1893.  Field, 17 June, 904/3. For years the labourers have been in the habit of going ‘upwards’—that is, up round London—for mowing and haymaking.

  fig.  1805.  Wordsw., Prelude, XI. 177. This … Soured and corrupted, upwards to the source, My sentiments.

  3.  = UPWARD adv. 3.

1548.  Vicary, Anat., vii. (1577), I i. The brode end … [of the heart] is vpwardes, and the sharpe ende is downewardes.

1599.  Shaks., Much Ado, III. ii. 71. Shee shall be buried with her face vpwards.

1658.  Rowland, trans. Moufet’s Theat. Ins., 928. The mouthes or passages of their cells are … altogether downward; and they very providently place the bottom of their cels upwards, that [etc.].

1668.  Moxon, Mech. Dyalling, 18. Holding the Center A upwards, so as the Plumb-line play free in the Grove. Ibid., 31. If this Dyal were turned with its Center upwards.

1733.  Tull, Horse-Hoeing Husb., 304. The Share, turn’d Bottom upwards.

1839.  Timperley, Dict. Printers, 104. He … then puts a quantity of the worked off sheets on it, taking care to have the printed side upwards.

1848.  Bailey, Festus (ed. 3), 228. For the Infinite is upwards, and above The highest thing created—upwards aye.

1875.  Sir T. Seaton, Fret-Cutting, 9. Take a set of gouges, stand the largest of the set edge upwards.

  b.  = UPWARD adv. 3 b. rare.^–1

c. 1400.  Maundev. (1919), xix. 110. Þerfore make þei the halfondel of ydole of a man vpwardes, & the toþer half of an ox dounwardes.

  4.  = UPWARD adv. 5.

1599.  Hakluyt, Voy., II. I. 224. These men goe naked from the girdle vpwardes.

1634.  Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 187. They … goe naked from the waste vpwards.

1855.  Orr’s Circ. Sci., Inorg. Nat. 106. One genus (Belemnites), very common … among all the secondary rocks, from the lias upwards.

  5.  Upwards of, at or to a higher level than; above.

1853.  G. Johnston, Nat. Hist. E. Bord., I. 140. Upwards of this, the hill is well-covered with … turf and heather.

  II.  6. a. Toa higher aggregate, figure, or the like.

1523.  in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. I. I. 221. The goods to paye j^s of the li. from xx^ll upwards.

1617.  Eastland Co. (Camden), 21. Deales from Eighteene foote longe uppwards. Ibid. Greate masts from fifteene hand upwards the peece.

1910.  Stage Year Bk., 47. First-class hotel accommodation … for two and a half or three guineas a week, upwards.

  b.  Usu. and upwards, or upwards. Freq. = somewhat more or rather above a specified age, number, value, size, etc. = UPWARD adv. 8 b.

  (a)  1570.  Foxe, A. & M. (ed. 2), 2268/2. Hussy. How old art thou? Eliz. Forty and vpwardes.

1612.  Sir D. Carleton, in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. I. 572. Diverse companies to the number of 700 men and upwards.

1693.  R. Lyde, Acc. Retaking of The Friend’s Adventure, Title-p., Their Majesties Customs of the said ship amounted to 1,000 l. and upwards.

1717.  in Nairne Peerage Evidence (1874), 31. Robert Robertson … aged ffifty years and upwards.

1729.  T. Innes, Crit. Essay (1879), 315. Within these last hundred years and upwards.

1818.  [S. Weston], La Scava, 25. Eighty whetstones and upwards … have been found.

1839.  Timperley, Dict. Printers, 105. All above 52 Pica ems, upon Small Pica and upwards.

1887.  Daily Chron., 17 Jan. (Encycl. Dict.). Some of them worth as much as £30 and upwards.

  (b)  1593.  Tell-Troth’s N. Y. Gift, A 3. Ioyning … their daughters of twentye yeares olde or vnder, to rich cormorants of threescore or vpwards.

1687.  Miége, Gt. Fr. Dict., II. s.v., It amounts to ten Pounds, or upwards.

1709.  Lond. Gaz., No. 45021/2. A Ship of 70 Guns, or upwards.

1857.  Miller, Elem. Chem., Org., 74. A solution of soda … which contains two per cent. or upwards of alkali.

1861.  Brit. Postal Guide, 1 Jan., 28. Messengers, whose weekly wages … are … 8s. or upwards.

  c.  To later life; = UPWARD adv. 8 a.

1805.  Wordsw., Prelude, VIII. 348. Even then, And upwards through late youth, until not less Than two-and-twenty summers had been told.

1851.  Dixon, W. Penn, 252. The great idea which he had nursed from his youth upwards.

1874.  Farrar, Christ, xv. 166. Might they not have understood that, from childhood upwards, He had not lived by bread alone?

  7.  Backwards in time; into the past.

a. 1654.  Selden, Table-t. (Arb.), 69. Some of them are asham’d upwards, because their Ancestors were too great.

1729.  T. Innes, Crit. Essay (1879), 142. [He] pronounced this genealogy … from Fergus, son of Erch, to Fergus, son of Ferchar, and upwards.

1887.  Skeat, Princ. Eng. Etym., I. 52. English should be traced downwards as well as upwards.

1890.  Grindlestone, Foundations of Bible, 19. History of the art of writing, from the days of Nehemiah upwards [to the time of Moses].

  8.  Upwards of, (rather) more than; = UPWARD adv. 9.

  In frequent use from c. 1760.

1721.  Perry, Daggenh. Breach, 17. A large Chest or Machine, upwards of eighty Foot long.

1753–4.  Richardson, Grandison, III. xvi. 227. He … kept his word till he was upwards of seventy.

1841.  Borrow, Zincali, II. xi. III. 109. Considerably upwards of a century.

1885.  Law Rep., 29 Chanc. Div. 538. The estate … was found liable for upwards of £5,000.

1893.  J. Pulsford, Loyalty to Christ, II. 321. Upwards of three thousand years ago.

  b.  Used erron. for: Somewhat less than (a specified amount); nearly, not quite. Chiefly dial.

1902.  Yorks. Post, 28 Feb. Thus ‘upwards of a hundred’ would mean nearly, or well on to a hundred.

1902–.  in colloquial use, Linc. to Devon (Eng. Dial. Dict.).

  † B.  prep. Up along the course of; = UP prep.² 2. Obs.

1601.  Hakluyt, Galvano, 72. He went into Arabia, Persia, and vpwards the riuer Euphrates.