upper-middle-class, a. and n.
[upper a. 8 b.]
A. adj. Of, pertaining to, or characterized by the class of polite society next below the upper class.
| 1872 Times 26 Dec. 5/4 Upper and upper middle-class society is represented in all its grades. 1906 Galsworthy Man of Property i. i. 3 Those privileged to be present at a family festival of the Forsytes have seen..an upper middle-class family in full plumage. 1949 W. L. Warner in M. Fortes Social Structure 4 Excerpts from the Total Configuration of an upper-middle-class doctor illustrate how this technique is used. 1967 M. Argyle Psychol. Interpersonal Behaviour iv. 80 English upper-middle-class speech includes considerable understatement; a person who fails to follow this convention is regarded as boastful. 1982 ‘W. Haggard’ Mischief-Makers ii. 20 Willy's skin was the colour of coal... He thought of himself as an upper-middle-class Englishman. |
B. n.
1. Usu. unhyphened. This class itself, or its members.
| c 1885 M. Darwin Let. in G. Raverat Period Piece (1952) vi. 98 The upper middle class think they are acting rightly by over-protecting their daughters. 1891 H. D. Traill in National Rev. Mar. 15 The great body of the upper middle classes. 1903 G. Gissing Private Papers H. Ryecroft 210 A lad whose education ranks him with the upper middle class. 1923 A. Bennett Riceyman Steps i. ii. 5 He had the air neither of a bookman nor of a member of the upper-middle class. 1955 H. Roth Sleeper xii. 99 Stamford, Connecticut, is a typical transplanting ground of the upper middle class. 1965 R. Williams in Tribune 5 Mar. 1/5 The English upper-middle class. |
2. ellipt. as upper-middle, a member of the upper middle class. Usu. in pl.
| 1955 [see middle-middle s.v. middle a. 6]. 1967 Economist 18 Feb. 607/2 In Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, the upper-middles do not choose to live in the city. 1978 R. Westall Devil on Road xv. 111 When my parents quarrel, they..fight in hoarse whispers. But like a lot of upper-middles..Derek and Susan let it all hang out. |