ˈuppermost, adv., a., and n.
Also 5 wpwr-, wppwrmwste, 6 Anglo-Ir. uppermuste; 5 wpwr-, 6 vp(p)ermoste (6 vppermooste), 5–7 vper-, 6–7 vppermost.
[f. as prec. + -most.]
A. adv.
1. In or to the highest, upmost, or most elevated position or place.
| 1481 Cely Papers (Camden) 74 A packe lyes wpwrmwste apon Dawlttons behynde the maste. Ibid. 75 Thay ly behynde the maste wpwrmoste. 1617 J. Taylor (Water P.) Observ. & Trav. fr. London to Hamburgh E 1 b, A good featherbed vndermost,..and another featherbed vppermost. 1622 Sir R. Hawkins Observ. Voy. S. Sea 3 With a storme..shee was turned topse-turvie, her Kele vppermost. 1668 Bp. Hopkins Serm., Vanity (1685) 76 His hand turns all things here about like so many wheels;..the same part is now uppermost, and anon lowermost. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 281 ¶11, I..shall therefore only take Notice of what lay first and uppermost. 1747 Wesley Prim. Physick (1762) 55 Lie with that Ear uppermost. 1814 Scott Diary 7 Aug. in Lockhart, This man being uppermost on the cord,..called out to his brother who was next to him. 1842 Loudon Suburban Hort. 263 Care must be taken that the upper end of the cutting..be kept uppermost. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xvi. 118 In making this effort the spike of my axe turned uppermost. |
| fig. 1866 G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. vii. (1878) 117 If the wine hadn't got uppermost. |
b. In the first or foremost place in respect of precedence, station, rank, or the like.
| 1526 Tindale Matt. xxiii. 6 They..love to sytt vpper⁓mooste at feastes. 1530 Palsgr. 713/2, I set hyest, or upper moste in a companye. 15.. Bk. Precedence i. 14 All Dukes daughters shall goe all-one with a nother, soe that alwayes the Eldest Dukes Daughter go vpermost. 1628 [see C. 1 b]. 1850 J. F. Cooper Ways of Hour I. 317 It is the people today;..some prince to-morrow; and by the end of the week we may have..a Robespierre uppermost. |
c. fig. In the chief place or predominancy.
| 1805 Wordsw. Prelude ix. 389 We..saw..generous love..Uppermost in the midst of fiercest strife. 1850 Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. (1857) 125 A mourning in which self is ever uppermost. 1885 ‘M. Rutherford’ Deliv. i. 11 Every now and then, when the subject was uppermost. |
2. Foremost in, most prominently in or into, the mind, thoughts, conversations, etc.
In frequent use from c 1830.
| 1693 Humours Town 54 Perpetual Chat on whatever comes uppermost. 1719 De Foe Crusoe ii. (Globe) 316 It was uppermost in all my Thoughts. 1723 Pres. St. Russia II. 151 It was always my Way to say what came uppermost. 1802–12 Bentham Ration. Judic. Evid. Wks. 1843 VII. 172 Any one word that comes uppermost is sufficient. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xli. Ever since she had left them she had not ceased to keep them uppermost in her thoughts. 1860 Trollope Framley P. xxvi, To speak out what came uppermost to her tongue. |
B. adj.
1. Occupying the highest position or place; loftiest, topmost, highest in place; furthest up (on a river, etc.).
| c 1500 Melusine lix. 358 He yede vp to the vpermost stage of the donjon. 1526 Tindale Luke xi. 43 Ye love the vppermost seates in the sinagoges. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 226 b, One of the officers demaunded his vpper garment for his fee, meanyng his goune, and he [sc. Sir Thomas More]..tooke him his cappe, saiyng it was the vppermoste garment that he had. 1623 Bingham Xenophon 133 Xenophon..encamped in the vppermost village neere the mountaines. 1657 Hobbes Absurd. Geom. 3 Perhaps you mean that the uppermost quantitie 0 + 1 is equal to the uppermost quantity 1. 1702 Post Man 8–11 Aug. 2/1 Inquire at the uppermost House..in the said Buildings. 1764 Museum Rust. IV. 19, I preserve only two of the new shoots, the uppermost and its opposite. 1844 Kinglake Eothen x, The golden juice ascended from..the cellar to the uppermost brains of the friars. 1886 J. A. Brown in Q. Jrnl. Geol. Soc. May 196 There had been a manufactory of Palæolithic implements on this uppermost floor. 1896 J. Ashby-Sterry Tale Thames (1903) 43/1 One the most attractive portions of what may be called the Uppermost Thames. |
b. Outermost; most external.
| a 1548 [implied in quot. under 1 above]. 1560 First Bk. Discipl. (1621) 48 The uppermost claith, corps-present; clerk maile, the Pasche-offering. 1567 J. Maplet Gr. Forest 69 The Adder..casteth off yearely his uppermost skin or coate. 1861 J. R. Greene Man. Anim. Kingd., Cœlent. 103 An expanded bulb, above which are disposed..the various appendages... Of these the hydrocysts are uppermost, or external. |
† 2. Maximum, utmost. Obs.—1
| 1579 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. V. 430 If any [person]..steallinge of any..wares, do..restore the thing or thinges so taken or the uppermuste vallue thereof. |
3. Highest in respect of rank, importance, precedence, etc.; chiefest, first.
| 1680 Walton in Aubrey Lives (1898) II. 15 He was in..the vpermost fforme in Westminster scole. 1699 Bentley Phal. 188 The Thought [was] so very obvious and uppermost. 1780 Warner in Jesse Selwyn & Contemp. (1844) IV. 398 In the Westminster [election] struggle Rodney is to-day got uppermost. 1876 C. M. Yonge Womankind xii, This entire seclusion from all means of reaching the poor..is seldom found in the uppermost classes. 1885 Manch. Exam. 6 Apr. 5/2 The weather is, in view of the approaching holiday, the uppermost subject of concern. |
b. Having the chief power, control, or authority; predominant, supreme; most influential.
| 1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. I. 887 In the time of the rebellion he sided with those that were uppermost. 1693 Humours Town 42 The Violence of those that are uppermost. 1732 Berkeley Alciphr. ii. §21 Where heavy heads are lowest, and men of genius uppermost. 1818 Scott Br. Lamm. xxvii, Uniform adherents to the party who are uppermost. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xiv. III. 445 The politician whose practice was always to be on the side which was uppermost. |
C. n.
† 1. The highest part or portion. Obs.
| 1484 Caxton Fables of æsop v. xiii, Yf an Egle were at the vppermost of the heuen. 1613–39 I. Jones in Leoni Palladio's Archit. (1742) II. 49 The uppermost of the highest Cornice, is of large Tyles. 1646 J. Gregory Notes & Obs. 11 For so they call τὰ µετέωρα τῶν οἰκηµάτων, the uppermosts of their Houses. |
b. The highest place or position.
| 1628 R. H. J. Owen's Epigr. ii. liv. 11 Let me set alwayes vppermost at boord, The vppermost in bed I'le you afoord. |
† 2. That which is highest, most predominant, etc. Obs.
| 1687 Good Advice 60 It is certain that two predominant Religions, would be two Uppermosts at once. a 1753 Bp. Berkeley in Fraser Life (1871) 477 W{supt} judgement would he make of uppermost and lowermost who had always seen through an inverting glass? |
† 3. The upper hand; superiority or dominion.
| 1718 Entertainer No. 43. 302 If ever they get the Uppermost, after their long Struggles for Superiority. |