▪ I. ˈuphill, n. and a.
Also up-hill.
[up prep.2 Cf. next.]
A. n.
1. An ascent; a high or steep rise.
| 1548 Udall Erasm. Par. Luke iii. 28 b, That countrey is full of vphilles and downhilles, & almost no parte of it euen, or plain chaumpian ground. 1611 Coryat Crudities 54 [The traveller has] no euen way, but continually high vp⁓hils and steepe down-hils til he commeth to Tarare. 1631 A. Townshend Albion's Triumph B, There is no vp-hill in the skyes; Clouds stay not feathered feete. 1671 tr. Frejus' Voy. Mauritania 54 Built on very high ground, but..we come insensibly to the Town, without perceiving any up-hill. 1883 C. Howard Roads Eng. & Wales (ed. 3) 81 From here is a long stiff uphill along the coast. |
† 2. Gaming. (See quots.) Obs.
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Uphils, high Dice. 1785 Grose Dict. Vulgar T., Uphills, false dice that run high. 1824 Hist. Gaming 41 To the landlord..he taught the art of..cutting the broads right, and throwing uphills. |
B. adj.
1. Situated on high ground; elevated.
| 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage, India (1614) 481 Ouer Bala⁓guate, or the vp-hill Countrey (for Bala in the Persian Language signifieth the toppe, and Guate a Hill). 1701 O. Heywood Diaries, etc. (1885) IV. 176 My last and best journey will be to the up-hill city. a 1814 Gonzanga iii. i. in New Brit. Theatre III. 121 My passage to the up-hill seat of power. 1853 Public School Matches 12 Whatever you do, throw up full from the uphill side. |
b. Grown on high ground.
| 1892 Daily News 7 Dec. 6/1 It was a well-known fact that up-hill hay was much the best. |
2. Leading or directed towards higher ground; going upwards, esp. steeply.
| 1622 Bacon Hen. VII, Ep. Ded., And it is with Times, as it is with Wayes. Some are more Up-hill and Down-hill, and some are more Flat and Plaine. 1684 Bunyan Pilgr. ii. 65 They love not to take Pains, up-hill way is unpleasant to them. 1728 Young Love Fame v. 99 Yet, as immortal, in our up-hill chace We press coy fortune with unslacken'd pace. c 1854 Faber Hymn, ‘The Light must win’ vi, The Church, the Sacraments, the Faith, Their uphill journey take. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 234 But before virtue the gods have set toil, and a tedious and uphill road. 1891 T. Hardy Tess xxvii, An up-hill and down-dale ride of twenty-odd miles. |
b. Presenting difficulties; carried on against difficulties or opposition; arduous, hard.
Used esp. with battle, fight, game, task, work.
| 1622 [see prec.]. 1659 Trevor in Burton's Diary (1828) IV. 348, I move not to bring it into question whether it be up-hill or down-hill. 1741 Ld. Lyttelton in Athenæum 23 Feb. (1895) 251/3 It was an uphill piece of work considering the difficulties he lies under. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1768) IV. 149 What an up-hill labour! 1849 Cobden Speeches 8 We had an up-hill battle, but we succeeded. 1850 J. H. Newman Diffic. Anglic. v. 107 This misfortune is nothing new; we always reckoned on an uphill game. a 1860 Alb. Smith Med. Student (1861) 119 The up-hill struggles..of his laborious future career. 1886 T. Frost Remin. Country Journalist xxi. (1888) 245 ‘It was up-hill work to establish it [sc. a newspaper],’ he told me. |
c. Contending against difficulties. rare.
| 1821 Hazlitt Table-T. Ser. i. Indian Jugglers, He was the best up-hill player in the world. 1885 Tennyson Anc. Sage 279 Lay thine uphill shoulder to the wheel, And climb the Mount of Blessing. |
3. uphill and downhill, alternately cheerful and depressed.
| 1681 R. Cromwell Let. in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1898) 96, I hope shee will find..a better account of the goodness of the Lord then what we meet with by your uphill and downhill letters. |
▪ II. upˈhill, adv.
Also up-hill, up hill.
[f. up prep.1 Cf. hill n. 1 c. In early use unhyphened.]
1. Towards the top of the hill or high ground; in an upward direction on a (steep) slope. Also in fig. contexts.
| α 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 311 The Persians..accustome their Horsses to run both down hil, and vp hil. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 10 The Streets..are incommodious, in that one is always going either up hill or down hill. 1737 [S. Berington] Mem. G. di Lucca 112 These Men..were approaching to the Line,..and supposing the Structure of..the Earth to be Spheroidal, went up Hill all the way. 1746 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. I. 440 As we march'd, all the way up hill, and over very uneven Ground. 1779 G. Keate Sketches fr. Nat. (ed. 2) I. 67 The successors of Saint Peter..trotted them up hill, and down hill,..just as they pleased to lead the way. 1824 Scott St. Ronan's iv, Mr. Winterblossom..would gladly have been the personal representative of the company..—but it [sc. the walk] was up hill. |
| β 1712 J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 118 To be constantly going Up-hill, or Down-hill. 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. i. 122 The dogs..ran up-hill with great alacrity. 1818 Hazlitt Eng. Poets v. 178 Thomson's blank verse..seems always labouring up-hill. 1877 Huxley Physiogr. 17 To do that the water would have to run up-hill. 1879 F. T. Pollok Sport Brit. Burmah I. 79 He could only go up-hill backwards. |
| fig. 1682 Sir T. Browne Chr. Mor. (1716) 109 To offer at iniquities, which have so little foundations in thee, were to be vitious up hill, and strain for thy condemnation. 1876 Bancroft Hist. U.S. VI. 340 We are always working up-hill. |
2. To or on the upper side of.
| 1922 ‘Claxon’ Heather Mixture xii. 246 The huntsman was riding..on Dicky's left, working to get uphill of the pack. |