upwards, adv. and prep.
(ˈʌpwədz)
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 onᵹinð of þæm wyrtrumum & swa upweardes grewð oð ðone stemn. c 1000 Boeth. Metr. xiii. 62 Sio sunne..stihð a upweardes, oð hio eft cymeð þær hire yfemesð bið eard ᵹecynde. 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 tr. Gregory's Dial. 286 Þa færinga locode heo uppweardes,..& ᵹeseah 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. 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 prevails, 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 tr. 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 H. F. 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 Shakes. Much Ado iii. ii. 71 Shee shall be buried with her face vpwards. 1658 Rowland tr. 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 T. Seaton Fret-Cutting 91 Take a set of gouges, stand the largest of the set edge upwards. |
b. = upward adv. 3 b.
rare—1.
| c 1400 Mandeville (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. To a higher aggregate, figure, or the like.
| 1523 in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. I. 221 The goods to paye js of the li. from xxli 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 {pstlg}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 {pstlg}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. |