Uploading

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ˈʌpˌloʊdɪŋ/

Definitions

1. Sending data from a local device to an external system such as a server or cloud storage
2. The process of moving files or information from one device to another over a network
3. Loading data from a personal computer to an online platform or remote location for storage or sharing

Etymology: "Upload" is a compound of "up" and "load," and the verb "to load" goes back to Old English "lād," meaning a way or course, which later came to mean the thing carried. Load itself passed through the sense of "to put a burden on" before it became the everyday word for filling a vessel or vehicle. The "up" in "upload" is the same directional particle found in "upset" or "uphold," so the word literally means loading something upward, as cargo was hoisted onto a ship or a vehicle. The computing sense is the surprise here. Moving material from a local machine to a larger system is the reverse of downloading, and the "up" in "upload" follows that reversal: data goes up to the server, down to the user. The word is a deliberate pairing with "download," so the pair shows how a common physical image was turned into a description of electronic transfer.

Synonyms: transmitting, sending