Upper

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈʌpə(ɹ)/

Definitions

1. The segment of an item that resides above the lower parts represents a clothing section that adorns the torso while also describing a status indicating greater importance or position
2. The garment portion designed to cover the chest and back ; a rank or status that is above others in level or importance
3. Clothing intended to shield the upper body area from shoulders to waist ; an elevated role or level in hierarchy or status

Etymology: "Upper" is a comparative formed from "up" plus the suffix "-er," which English inherited from Old English "-ra" and which marks a comparison, as in "lower" or "inner." Its ancestors were already comparing positions in the Germanic languages long before English existed, so the word's shape is as old as its sense of "higher in place." Middle English "upper" then carried that comparative sense into the two uses you see today: the part of a garment covering the chest and back, and a rank or status standing above others. Because "upper" is a comparative, it began as a way of saying "more up than something else" rather than as a noun or a label in its own right. The garment sense and the social sense both grew out of that basic spatial comparison, which is why the same word can describe either a shoe's top or a class of people without any leap in meaning.

Synonyms: higher, top, elevated, superior, above

Antonyms: lower, bottom, inferior, beneath, under