Upload

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /əpˈləʊd/

Definitions

1. To convey data from a personal computing device to a distant server for storage or access
2. To send files or information from a local device to a server or platform across a network
3. The act of moving digital content from a user's computer to another computer system or online service

Etymology: "Upload" is a plain compound: "up" plus "load," with the verb built on the older sense of "load" as putting cargo onto a vehicle or ship. The useful twist is in the direction. To load something was to place it on a carrier, and "up" pointed the action toward a higher or larger destination, so to upload was to move goods upward onto a ship or wagon before the word ever meant anything digital. When computing needed a term for moving data from a local machine to a remote one, English reached for the existing pattern. The verb took the same shape as its opposite, "download," and the two formed a matched pair, with "upload" describing transfer toward the larger or more central system and "download" describing transfer toward the user. The word's underlying logic is a simple spatial image: the cargo rises from the sender's side to the receiver's. The term keeps that picture of movement across a gap, now applied to files rather than freight.

Synonyms: transfer, send, post, submit, load

Antonyms: download, retrieve, pull, take back, unload