upstairs

[uhp-stairz] /ˈʌpˈstɛərz/
adverb
1.
up the stairs; to or on an upper floor.
2.
Informal. in the mind:
to be a little weak upstairs.
3.
to or at a higher level of authority:
You may have to take the matter upstairs.
4.
Military Slang. at or to a higher level in the air.
adjective
5.
Also, upstair. of, pertaining to, or situated on an upper floor:
an upstairs window; an upstairs apartment.
noun, plural upstairs.
6.
(usually used with a singular verb) an upper story or stories; the part of a building or house that is above the ground floor:
The upstairs of this house is entirely rented.
7.
a higher command or level of authority:
We can't take action till we have approval from upstairs.
Idioms
8.
kick upstairs, to promote (a person) to a higher position, usually having less authority, in order to be rid of him or her.
Origin
1590-1600; up- + stairs
Examples from the web for upstairs
  • But walk upstairs to the second floor, and the ancient corpses on display seem to tell a different story.
  • It had three rooms on the first floor and sleeping lofts upstairs.
  • He then places the seedlings under fluorescent lights upstairs in what he calls his pumpkin room.
  • We put hardwood floors in the upstairs of our house.
  • Out on the street, witnesses described what they had seen upstairs when several protesters tried to enter the hearing room.
  • And there are no water stains or anything of that sort on the upstairs walls.
  • So she took hold of the frog with two fingers, carried him upstairs, and put him in a corner.
  • When he comes into a house, he calls the servants by their names, and talks all the way upstairs to a visit.
  • He took up his burden again, and returned upstairs, looking about him and trying to account for the blood-spot.
  • upstairs, the ninth-deck bar had also become a town plaza.
British Dictionary definitions for upstairs

upstairs

/ˈʌpˈstɛəz/
adverb
1.
up the stairs; to or on an upper floor or level
2.
(informal) to or into a higher rank or office
3.
(informal) in the mind: a little weak upstairs
4.
(informal) kick upstairs, to promote to a higher rank or position, esp one that carries less power
noun (functioning as singular or pl)
5.
  1. an upper floor or level
  2. (as modifier): an upstairs room
6.
(Brit, informal, old-fashioned) the masters and mistresses of a household collectively, esp of a large house Compare downstairs (sense 3)
Word Origin and History for upstairs

1590s (adj.), from up + stairs (see stair). The noun is first attested 1872. Meaning "characteristic of upstairs life" (in private rooms of a household, as opposed to servants' quarters) is recorded from 1942.

He [Halifax] had said he had known many kicked down stairs, but he never knew any kicked up stairs before. [Gilbert Burnet, supplement to "History of My own Time," from his original memoirs, c.1697]

Slang definitions & phrases for upstairs

upstairs

adverb

In the brain; mentally: became a little balmy upstairs (1932+)

Related Terms

kick someone upstairs, the man upstairs


Idioms and Phrases with upstairs

upstairs

see: kick upstairs