upˈtear, v.
[up- 4 + tear v.1 Cf. uptorn.]
trans. To pull up by the roots or from the foundation; to rend up, tear out.
| 1593 Sidney's Arcadia Wks. 1922 II. 240 The laborer which cursed earthe uppteares With sweatye browes. 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 663 The rest in imitation to like Armes Betook them, and the neighbouring Hills uptore. 1786 Burns To Mountain Daisy v, But now the share uptears thy bed, And low thou lies! 1803 Leyden Scenes Infancy iii. xxii, The forest bull, that..the ground uptore. 1850 Blackie æschylus II. 195 He from their socket roots uptore His eyes. 1855 Singleton Virgil I. 126 Hence it nor storms, nor gusts, nor showers uptear. |
| fig. 1847 C. Brontë J. Eyre xxvii, What good would it do if I bent, if I uptore, if I crushed her? 1850 Blackie æschylus II. 61 Such wedlock even now He blindly broods, as shall uptear his kingdom. |