upward

From Old English upweardes, equivalent to up +‎ -ward.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈʌpwɚd/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈʌpwəd/

• Audio (US):

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upward (not comparable)

1. In a direction from lower to higher; toward a higher place; in a course toward the source or origin.

   We ran upward.

   • [1594], Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Iohn Windet, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page):

     Looking inward, we are stricken dumb; looking upward, we speak and prevail.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     If the afternoon was fine they strolled together in the park, very slowly, and with pauses to draw breath wherever the ground sloped upward. The slightest effort made the patient cough.

2. In the upper parts; above.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     Dagon his name, sea monster, upward man, / And downward fish.

3. Yet more; indefinitely more; above; over.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Numbers 1:3:

     From twenty years old and upward.

• cloudwards, up, upwards

• down, downwards

upward (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) The upper part; the top.
   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:

     From the extremest upward of thy head.

upward (comparative more upward, superlative most upward)

1. Directed toward a higher place.

   with upward eye; with upward course

   • 2024 March, Angus Deaton, “Rethinking My Economics”, in F&D Magazine‎^[1]:

     […] economists should focus on efficiency and leave equity to others, to politicians or administrators. But the others regularly fail to materialize, so that when efficiency comes with upward redistribution—frequently though not inevitably—our recommendations become little more than a license for plunder.

• (toward a higher place): cloudward

• draw up, draw-up, updraw