位置比較高（形容詞核心）
最貼核心的一支：純粹講「上面那個」的空間位置，是其他意思的出發點。
upper (higher position) · adjective · B1
In a higher position than another part, especially one of a pair.
上面的
核心畫面
Picture two things stacked, and you point at the one on top — the part that sits higher. upper is up turned into 'the higher one of a pair'. Almost everything else is this spatial 'higher' picture carried into rank, geography, or a thing's top piece.
可以想成兩個東西疊在一起，你指著上面那個——位置比較高的那一塊。upper 就是把 up（上）變成「一對裡比較高的那…更多收起
可以想成兩個東西疊在一起，你指著上面那個——位置比較高的那一塊。upper 就是把 up（上）變成「一對裡比較高的那個」。它大部分的用法，都是把這個「比較高」的空間畫面，搬到地位高低、地理上下、或一個東西的頂端那一片上。只有當名詞指「興奮劑」時，走的是另一條比較口語的支線。Four branches
地位比較高
把空間的「上面」轉成抽象的「上位」——權力、階級、優勢都被想成位置高的一方。
upper (higher in rank) · adjective · B1
More important, or higher in rank, than other parts of an organization or system.
高層的
東西頂端那一片（名詞）
形容詞的「上面那塊」直接被當成名詞用：指一個物件的頂端那一片。
upper (top part of a shoe) · noun · B1
The top part of a shoe, which covers the foot above the sole.
鞋面
興奮劑（口語支線）
走的是 up「往上、提振」這條口語線，跟『位置高』的核心只是同源於 up，不是它的比喻延伸，所以另立一支。
an upper (stimulant drug, slang) · noun · B1
An informal, slang word for an illegal drug that makes someone feel very awake and full of energy; such drugs are harmful and against the law.
興奮劑（俚語）
原始詞典資料18 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
upperadj/ˈʌpə/
- 1
At a higher physical position, level, rank or order.
- 2
Situated on higher ground, further inland, more upstream, or more northerly.
- 3
geographygeologynatural-sciencesYounger, more recent.
- 4
educationOf or pertaining to a secondary school.
uppernoun/ˈʌpə/
- 1
A stimulant, such as amphetamine, that increases energy and decreases appetite.
- Eye Girl is very moody. She is always zooted up on some really foul combination of uppers and downers and Rollerblading. Her bouts of Rollerblading seem to coincide with fights with Eye Guy.
- Say, for example, a person starts with the use of a downer that reduces any anxiety and produces a sense of relaxation. When their energy levels drop, they take a stimulant in order to continue participating in the party or another event. This creates a cycle that could lead to significant drug use and drastically increases the risk of overdose or death. It is critical to know which drugs are uppers and downers to avoid this combination.
- 2
A stimulant, such as amphetamine, that increases energy and decreases appetite.
- 1977-1980, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure Patrick was a cabbie & a dispatcher at Yellow Cab & when we got to the church where the [funeral] services were being held, the cabbies came out in force for Pat & there were at least 30 cabs pulling into the church parking lot. It was a real upper for a lot of us.
- 3
The upper portion of something.
- The slewing ring is basically a large bearing upon which the upper is mounted. The outer race of the slewing ring is bolted to the upper, and the inner race is bolted to the car-body.
- These lines, GH and PC, are cut when the outline of the upper is cut out.
- 4
The upper portion of something.
- Holonyms: shoe, boot
- genuine leather upper / balance manmade [label on a shoe]
- 5
The upper portion of something.
- 6
Someone with higher social standing
- Thus a vicious circle is established: the uppers offer participation, and the lowers, feeling persecuted, withdraw.
- 7
Someone with higher social standing
- Each Upper had his private Fag; but general fagdom consisted of obedience to the demand of every Upper, no matter in whose House he happened to be.
- It is advisable, for example, to learn the words to the school loyalty and to “Fair Harvard” in the event that you are “asked” to give an impromptu “concert” in the Yard for the benefit of the Uppers.
- 8
That which is higher, contrasted with the lower.
- Next, take up slack equally on the two uppers until they are snug.
- During the seventh week, the limbs also rotate laterally in the uppers and medially in the lowers.
另外 4 個記錄的用法
- 9
That which is higher, contrasted with the lower.
- In the lingualized type of occlusion, contact of the lingual cusps of the uppers against the semianatomic teeth on the lowers will be seen in lateral, protrusive, and eccentric movements.
- These reentrant folds, especially those on the buccal side of the uppers and the lingual side of the lowers, are quickly isolated by wear into infundibula within lakes of dentin.
- 10
That which is higher, contrasted with the lower.
- Treatment was continued until November, 1909, when a retainer was placed in position in the lower, consisting of bands round the lower first molars and a wire passing lingually round all the teeth. The upper was retained by means of a plate with wires wires passing behind the upper first molars and round in front of all the teeth.
- The lower (according to the patient) was perfect, but the upper was bad, and the dentist was going to make the upper again.
- 11
That which is higher, contrasted with the lower.
- The Railroad Company further averred that it operated sleeping cars over its system of more than 7,000 miles of interstate roads, and that the Interstate Commerce Commission had prescribed rates for each of said sleeping car units on trains running to and from the state of Wisconsin. The rate fixed for the upper was 80 per cent. of the charge for the use of the lower; the price for the whole section beting the sum of the two rates.
- But trains have changed. Gone are the uppers and lowers, partitions and cranks, and the green velour; only the porter remains, the same man, I think, a black man with palms the color of shrimp and a neck swollen with dislike.
- 12
A spiritual passageway through which consciousness can reach a higher dimension.
- The 'upper' is one of nine apertures through which consciousness can leave the body at death (utkrantih).
- When the Tao Te Ching says: “In thought, you can see the cavity,” it is referring to what the Triplex Unity describes as “When the upper is closed, we call it existence; when the lower is closed, we call it nothingness.”
upperverb/ˈʌpə/
- 1
rareTo fix an upper onto a shoe.
- No, that is where the job rating comes in. For example, the job of uppering the shoe, which is placing the gum upper on the last, carries a much higher rate than that of wiping the soapstone off the upper.
- 2
To raise.
- Then, when a galaxy is forming and gets its relatively small black hole, it becomes responsible for uppering the amount of dark matter closer to the centre
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。