toward a higher place or position: The birds flew upward.
2.
toward a higher or more distinguished condition, rank, level, etc.: His employer wishes to move him upward in the company.
3.
to a greater degree; more: fourscore and upward.
4.
toward a large city, the source or origin of a stream, or the interior of a country or region: They followed the Thames River upward from the North Sea to London.
5.
in the upper parts; above.
–adjective
6.
moving or tending upward; directed at or situated in a higher place or position.
—Idiom
7.
upwards of, more than; above: My vacation cost me upwards of a thousand dollars.
[Origin: bef. 900; ME; OE upweard (c. D opwaart). See up-, -ward]
O.E. upweard, upweardes from up (see up) + -weard (see -ward). Cf. M.L.G. upwart, M.Du. opwaert, M.H.G. ufwart. Phrase upward mobility first recorded 1949; mainly restricted to sociologists' jargon until 1960s.
directed up; "the cards were face upward"; "an upward stroke of the pen"
2.
extending or moving toward a higher place; "the up staircase"; "a general upward movement of fish" [syn: up]
adverb
1.
spatially or metaphorically from a lower to a higher position; "look up!"; "the music surged up"; "the fragments flew upwards"; "prices soared upwards"; "upwardly mobile" [syn: up] [ant: down]
2.
to a later time; "they moved the meeting date up"; "from childhood upward" [syn: up]
Up"ward\, Upwards \Up"wards\, adv. [AS. upweardes. See Up-, and -wards.]1. In a direction from lower to higher; toward a higher place; in a course toward the source or origin; -- opposed to downward; as, to tend or roll upward. --I. Watts. Looking inward, we are stricken dumb; looking upward, we speak and prevail. --Hooker. 2. In the upper parts; above. Dagon his name, sea monster, upward man, And down ward fish. --Milton. 3. Yet more; indefinitely more; above; over. From twenty years old and upward. --Num. i. 3. Upward of, or Upwards of, more than; above. I have been your wife in this obedience Upward of twenty years. --Shak.
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