1809. Malkin, Gil Blas [Routledge], 50. We drank hard, and returned . . . in a pretty pickle, that is to say, so-so in the upper storey. Ibid., 87. Arsenia and Florimonde are not strong in their upper works.
1890. Harper's Mag., lxxx. 348. It knocked everything topsy-turvy in my upper storey.
Upper-ten, subs. phr. (common).—The
aristocracy, landed gentry,
world of fashion: also upper
ten thousand, upper-tendom,
and upper-crust. [Usually
referred to N. P. Willis, and
originally applied to the wealthy
classes of New York as approximating
that member.]
c. 1835. Willis, Ephemera. At present there is no distinction among the upper ten thousand of the city.
1843-4. Haliburton, Attaché. I want you to see Peel, Stanley, Graham, Shiel, Russell, Macaulay, old Joe, and so on. They are all upper crust here.
1848. Lowell, Fable for Critics. Caring naught for what vengeance the mob has in store, Let that mob be the upper ten thousand or lower.
18[?]. Doesticks, 131 [Bartlett]. At a ball for the benefit of the poor was a comingling of uppertendom with lower twentydom,—an avalanche of exclusiveness in a torrent of mobocracy.
18[?]. Butler, Nothing to Wear. Researches in some of the upper ten districts Reveal the most painful and startling statistics.
1868. Athenæum, Nov., 719. To provide for the well-being of the children of affluent parents, our social reformers urge that the mothers of the upper ten thousand should put their nurseries under the control of a superior nurse.
1874. Siliad, viii. Yet much remains that stigmatize we must, And in our Siliad the upper crust Will find some words to ponder carefully.
1877. Davitt, Prison Diary. Most of these pseudo-aristocratic impostors had succeeded in obtaining admission to the stocking-knitting party, which, in consequence, became known among the rest of the prisoners as the 'upper ten push.'
1884. Harper's Mag., lxxviii. 568. The favourite promenade of the upper ten.
Uppish, adj. (colloquial).—1.
Proud, arrogant, stuck-up
(q.v.); 'rampant, crowing, full
of money' (B. E. and Grose);
also (B. E.) = brisk. Whence
Uppishly and Uppishness.
(Johnson: 'a low word.']
d. 1704. Brown, Works, i. 154. Half-pay officers at the parade very uppish upon the death of the King of Spain.
1710. Tatler, 230. Other of that kidney are very uppish and alert upon't.
1710-13. Swift, Jour. to Stella [Oliphant, New Eng., ii. 150. Among the Adjectives is uppish, a new word objected to by Swift. Ibid., ii. 151. He turns an Adjective into a verb; I'll uppish you, for he disliked this new phrase].
1740. North, Examen, 48. It seems daring to rail at informers, projectors, and officers was not uppish enough, but his Lordship must rise so high as daring to limit the power and revenue of the Crown.
1824. Peake, Americans Abroad, i. 1. You are but an underlin', tho' you are so uppish and twistical.
1839. Mrs Trollope, Michael Armstrong, iii. She is a bedridden woman, and ought to be in the workhouse; but she's upish, and can't abide it.
1880. Stockton, Merry Chanter, xvii. Americans are too uppish; but when you get hold of a man who is accustomed to being downtrodden, it's easy to keep him so.
1882. Lowell, [Century, xxxv. 512]. I sometimes question whether that quality in [Landor] which we cannot but recognise and admire, his loftiness of mind, should not, sometimes, rather be called uppishness.
2. (old).—Tipsy: see Screwed.
1726. Vanbrugh, Jour. to London, iii. 1. Lady Head. Not so drunk, I hope, but that he can drive us? Sew. Yes, yes, madam, he drives best when he's a little uppish.
Upright, subs. (American).—1. A
leg.
