2TOPnear or at the top of something 靠近顶部的;在顶部的OPP lower
the upper floors of a building
大楼的高层
There is an upper age limit for becoming a pilot.
当飞行员有年龄上限。
3have/gain the upper handADVANTAGEto have more power than someone else, so that you are able to control a situation 占上风;处于有利地位
Police have gained the upper hand over the drug dealers in the area.
警方在与该地区的毒品贩子的较量中占据了上风。
Examples from the Corpus
have/gain the upper hand• But slowly and surely the followers of Chaos gained the upper hand.• If the two had been introduced simultaneously, the larger one would invariably have the upper hand.• Now Whitegains the upper hand.• The world can only pray that they do not gain the upper hand.• Under the proposedlaw, she would have the upper hand.• We must destroy them now, while we yet have the upper hand.• When you have a gun you have the upper hand, it makes you feel big, bad.• Police have gained the upper hand over the drugdealers in the area.• Officials said they might reopen the freeway at 5 p. m. today, perhaps sooner if firefightersgain the upper handovernight.
4HIGH POSITION OR RANKmore important than other parts or ranks in an organization, system etc 〔在某一机构、体系等中〕较高级的,较重要的
the upper echelons (=the most important members) of corporate management
公司管理人员中的高层
5SGFARfurther from the sea or further north than other parts of an area 上游的;北部的
upper reaches• Clearly therefore the clouds do not consist of water, at least not in their upper reaches.• He started with the upper reaches of government and the bureaucracy.• Eventually, of course, you will want to go for the upper reaches of navalaccomplishment: world domination.• Of particular interest is the area around the upper reaches of the Aver known as the Moot.• Certainly, he had abundantconnections to the upper reaches of the company hierarchy.• For a sixty-year-old man in the upper reaches of the legalprofession, that was pathetic.• And even the long dried out upper reaches of the Pang are flowing ... just ... but more is required.
3.be on your uppersBritish EnglishBrE old-fashionedPOOR to have very little money 手头拮据,困窘
Examples from the Corpus
be on your uppers• Auckland Park, he said, was now known as Sandshoe Alley because everyone up there was on his uppers.• The poor chap is on his uppers, by all accounts, reduced to touting himself on the after-dinner circuit.