Uppercase

Part of speech: adjective, noun, verb

Definitions

1. Presented entirely in capital letters rather than lowercase ; lacking lowercase characters as in certain styles or formats ; reflecting a typographic choice where only capital forms are used
2. Written using only capital glyphs and omitting any small-letter forms ; consisting exclusively of uppercase symbols as in shouting in digital communication ; typified by the sole presence of majuscule letters
3. Displayed with every character as a capital and not using any small-case letters ; composed wholly of upper-case writing ; marked by text where only the larger, initial-style alphabetic characters appear

Etymology: The word "uppercase" is a compound built from "upper" and "case," and its history is tied to the printing trade rather than to any single coinage. The "case" in question was a shallow wooden tray divided into compartments, in which a compositor kept loose metal type. Printers working at the case would reach for capital letters in the upper compartments and small letters in the lower ones, which is where the terms "upper case" and "lower case" come from. Capitals were therefore literally the letters kept up top. The "case" half traces back to Latin "capsa," meaning a box or receptacle, which came through Old Northern French "casse" and reached Middle English as "case." Its path into English is a good example of a container word that moved from a storage box to a holder of printing type. The "upper" half descends from Old English "uppa," a native Germanic word with ancient roots, and it simply describes the higher position of the compartment.

Synonyms: capital letters, majuscule, caps, capitalized, big letters

Antonyms: lowercase, small letters, minuscule