| 释义 |
upstairs, adv., n., and a.
[up prep.2 1, 7.]
A. adv. |ʌpˈstɛəz|.
1. a. So as to ascend a flight of stairs; to the floor at the top of a staircase.
Stressed ˈupstairs when contrasted with downstairs.
1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 112 His industry is vp-staires and down-staires, his eloquence the parcell of a reckoning. 1658E. Phillips Myst. Love & Eloquence 75 Up stairs we nimbly creep, And find the Sluts asleep. 1661in Jamieson Sc. Dict. s.v. Breadberry, Tripping up stares and down stares with a posset or berry for the laird or lady. 1722De Foe Plague (1896) 127 Some [running] down stairs and some up stairs. 1767Woman of Fashion I. 244 Shew the Lady up Stairs. 1797S. & Ht. Lee Canterb. T. (1799) I. 152 He abruptly walked up stairs, and..opened the door. 1839Dickens Nich. Nick. lxii, He made his way up stairs into the room. 1876T. Hardy Ethelberta vii, I think that after the women had gone upstairs the others turned their thoughts upon you again.
b. fig. (See kick v. 5 b.)
c1697Burnet Orig. Mem. (1902) 145 He [Halifax] had said he had known many kicked down stairs, but he never knew any kicked up stairs before. 1821[see kick v. 5 b].
c. (a) Parliament. In phr. to send (a bill) upstairs, to refer (a bill) for its committee stage from the floor of the House to a standing committee. Cf. commit v. 4.
1835Mirror of Parl. 17 June 1399/2, I rise to suggest, that if this Bill requires mature deliberation with respect to its details, it should be referred to a Committee up⁓stairs, and not to the Registration Committee. 1907Hansard Commons 11 Apr. 419 Was it the intention of the Government that such a Bill as the Army Bill should go upstairs? 1931Economist 31 Jan. 215/2 In spite of the Government's majority, it is clear that the Bill will emerge from Committee in a very different form from the one in which it is sent upstairs. 1959Daily Tel. 13 Nov. 13/3 For detailed consideration, the Bill will be sent to a Committee ‘upstairs’, consisting of about 45 M.P.s. 1975J. P. Morgan House of Lords & Labour Govt. ii. 54 All Public Bills usually have their Committee Stage in the Lords on the Floor of the House... In response to the pressure of legislation in 1968 the Lords tried the experiment of taking some Bills ‘upstairs’ for their Committee Stage.
(b) Hence more generally, (ii) to a more influential position (sometimes ironical); (ii) to a higher authority (of a matter referred for judgement). colloq.
1965[see plenum 2]. 1977D. Bagley Enemy xi. 75 I'll have to push it upstairs for a ruling. 1978S. Brill Teamsters vii. 289 The Pressers get him another job with the Joint Council or the statewide union. You know, he gets thrown upstairs.
d. Aeronaut. Up in or into the air. In phr. to go (climb, etc.) upstairs, to become airborne. colloq.
1908Punch 10 June 429/2 Climbing upstairs over Richmond Park [in a balloon] in search of conducive current. 1919C. P. Thompson Cocktails 250 We hauled the plane from the trees where she had been pushed out of sight..and..went upstairs at speed.
2. a. At the top of, on a floor or in a room reached by, a flight of stairs; in one of the upper stories of a house.
1781Cowper Table T. 151 To be the Table Talk of clubs up stairs. 1796–7Jane Austen Pride & Prej. lv, Her mother..was sitting up stairs with Kitty. 1844Kinglake Eothen xvi, It is upstairs—on the first floor. 1882M. E. Braddon Mt. Royal III. ii. 28 You would rather dine upstairs, I dare say.
b. quasi-n.
1842S. Lover Handy Andy xiv, The ogre's voice from up⁓stairs. 1898Watts-Dunton Aylwin xii. iii, As I spoke I heard a noise... It seemed to come from upstairs.
c. As n. An upper story or floor. Also transf., a person or persons living on an upper floor.
1872E. Eggleston End of World i. 19 They say, he has all up-stairs full of books. 1884in Proc. Soc. Psychical Research Dec. (1885) 329, I was..present on the day when Mr. Coulomb gave the charge of the upstairs to our party. 1896Westm. Gaz. 23 April 2/3 The magistrate could not discriminate whether upstairs or down-stairs began [the fight].
d. Aeronaut. In the air; in flight; aloft. colloq.
1918H. A. Bruno Flying Yankee v. 77 Cold as the devil upstairs. Ibid. xii. 193 ‘Upstairs’ a stiff breeze was blowing. 1934V. M. Yeates Winged Victory ii. v. 232 There won't be any Huns about upstairs [on] a day like this. 1940N. Monks Squadrons Up! 252 Dashing about ‘upstairs’ in stratospherical aloofness. 1967W. Lord Incredible Victory 94 By 5:30 the weather was clearing ‘upstairs’. 1981I. St. James Balfour Conspiracy v. 138 The R.A.F. are upstairs now..at about seventy thousand feet.
e. Mentally, ‘in the head’. Chiefly in phrases indicating weak (or abundant, etc.) mental capacity. slang.
1932J. Farrell Young Lonigan i. 44 Aw, she's all vacant upstairs. 1945A. Kober Parm Me 179 ‘Meshugeh upstairs!’ Jennie laughed and drummed on her forehead. 1952G. W. Brace Spire xxvii. 322 He just ain't right upstairs. 1962A. Huxley Island xi. 184 ‘One may be very stupid upstairs.’ She patted the top of her head. 1974P. De Vries Glory of Hummingbird (1975) v. 63 Assurances that my progress here would be well lubricated by my having ‘plenty upstairs’.
f. the Man Upstairs, euphem. and slang for ‘God’. Cf. up there 1. U.S.
1961J. Heller Catch-22 xviii. 184 ‘When you talk to the man upstairs,’ he said, ‘I want you to tell Him something for me.’ 1971Guardian 8 Oct. 9/4 Everything that's happened to me has been very much because of the Man Upstairs. 1976H. Kemelman Wednesday Rabbi got Wet xix. 129 I'd just lost my wife, see. I guess the Man Upstairs wanted her.
B. adj. |ˈʌpstɛəz|.
1. a. Situated on an upper story or at the top of a flight of steps.
1782Jrnl. Yng. Lady of Virginia (1871) 46 Nancy had a fire made up in one of the up-stairs rooms. 1850Househ. Words I. 206/1 In upstairs Infirmary wards. 1879Mrs. A. G. F. E. James Ind. Househ. Managem. 35 A bungalow has rarely any upstairs rooms.
b. Belonging to, connected with, the upper rooms or parts of a house.
1839Hood On Completing Forty-Seven iv, I hear the up-stairs bell. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xvi, At the usual hour..the upstairs maid knocked at the door of the..bed⁓chamber. 1894E. Banks Camp. Curiosity 10 The up⁓stairs duties of a first-class lodging-house.
c. fig. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of life ‘above stairs’ (i.e. in private rooms of a household, as opp. to the servants' quarters) (chiefly Hist.); refined, genteel, privileged. Freq. in phr. upstairs-downstairs adj., denoting the social contrast between employer and domestic servant.
1942‘M. Innes’ Daffodil Affair i. ii. 13 Almost might she be said, in upstairs language, to be receiving. [1971TV Times 9 Oct. 6/2 A six-part series, Upstairs, Downstairs (or Secrets of an Edwardian Household), starting Sunday, lovingly, critically examines life at that time through one family.] 1974D. Francis Knock Down i. 6 To one side of the sale ring, and built to a specification as Upstairs as the wooden circle was Downstairs, was a magnificent turn of the century stable yard. 1975New Society 6 Nov. 305/2 Our system is too monolithic, based as it is on an upstairs-downstairs view of music. Upstairs people choose the classics on Radio Three... Downstairs, people listen to pop. 1978G. Mitchell Mingled with Venom i. 4 She had been taken on as kitchen-maid... She was..a ready learner of upstairs speech and manners. 1980E. Behr Getting Even i. 18 The lady in black with white lace cap and apron, a real upstairs-downstairs figure.
2. Having more than one story.
1840E. E. Napier Scenes & Sports For. Lands II. v. 163 Old B― possessed one of the few up-stairs houses in the cantonment, in the lower part of which he had his shop. |