† uplandn.1adj.1
Obsolete.
A. n.1
The parts of a country outside the towns; the rural districts.
ΘΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > country as opposed to town > [noun]
landc900
fieldeOE
uplanda1122
countryc1300
regiona1382
monkerya1790
countryside1815
a1122 Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) ann. 1087 Se cyng..bead þæt ælc man..sceolde cuman to him..of porte & of uppelande.
1209 in Eng. Hist. Rev. Oct. (1901) 720 Altres gens et numeement cil de upelande.
1303 R. Mannyng Handlyng Synne 1315 Ȝyf þou do any man yn prysun,..Or bynde yn upland or in burgh.
1346 Little Red Bk. Bristol (1900) II. 14 Drap qest fulee sur oppelande.
c1350 Cron. London (Camden) 46 En cele temps fut le vj.me dener de bienz levé en Loundres et en autres cytés en Engletere, et sure upelond le x.me denier.
1377 Ann. Barber Surgeons (1890) 36 [Barbers from] uppelande.
?1518 A. Barclay tr. D. Mancinus Myrrour Good Maners sig. Hvv Forbyddyng, great buildyng sumptuous..in countrey or vplande.
1522 Worlde & Chylde (de Worde) (1909) sig. C.iv Poore men that come from vplande.
1864 F. Palgrave Hist. Normandy & Eng. IV. 43 Rufus renewed his general summons to his English lieges. From..town and from upland they were called.]
B. adj.1in combination.?1614 G. Chapman tr. Homer Odysses ix. 133 This heape of fortitude [sc. the Cyclops], That so illiterate was, and vpland rude.
1. Living out in the country; rustic, rural.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabiting a type of place > [adjective] > inhabiting the country
upland14..
ruralc1425
rustical?a1475
ruric1488
upalands1535
uplands1570
rustic1582
rusticated1757
the world > food and drink > farming > farmer > [adjective] > peasant or rustic
churlisha1000
upland14..
rustical?a1475
ruric1488
rusticate?a1505
rural1513
upalands1535
clownish1570
rustic1582
clownical1614
clown-likea1640
swainish1642
nut-brown1648
countrified1653
Corydonical1656
sylvatic1661
villatic1671
farmerly1689
peasant1702
soil-bound1814
farmerish1835
farmery1862
corn-pone1919
swede-bashing1936
14.. in Sc. Acts Parl. (1844) I. 339 Of þe borowyng of uplande mannis pundis.
1591 G. Fletcher Of Russe Common Wealth xviii. f. 62v Taking away with him the vpland, or countrie people (that should haue tilled the ground..).
1599 T. Nashe Lenten Stuffe 26 Other engrating vpland cormorants will grunt out it is Grana paradisi..that is most sought after.
?1615 G. Chapman tr. Homer Odysses (new ed.) i. 315 Kept alive Within an isle by rude and upland men.
1670 J. Milton Hist. Brit. ii. 48 In peace the Upland Inhabitants besides hunting tended thir flocks and heards.
2. Characteristic of the country; of rustic form or make. rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > country as opposed to town > [adjective]
fieldena1425
rustic?1440
citylessc1450
champestrea1492
rural?a1500
rustical1542
agrestc1550
predial1592
champestrial1612
agrestic1617
agrestical1623
agrested1650
upland1654
countrified1756
agrestian1812
country1827
mofussil1828
agrestial1840
landward1844
bucolic1846
out-country1939
land-bound1972
1654 Despauterii Grammaticæ Institutionis Lib. VII (new ed.) sig. C2 Pero peronis, an upland shooe.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1926; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
uplandn.2adj.2
/ˈʌplənd/, U.S. /ˈəplənd/ A. n.2
1. The part of a country lying away from the sea; the interior or high-lying districts. Also plural. Now archaic.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > land mass > shore or bank > interior land > [noun]
in-country1565
inland1573
upland1579
interior1796
1579 T. North tr. Plutarch Liues 692 He determined to draw these pirats from the sea into thupland.
1615 G. Sandys Relation of Journey 12 Smal watch-towers, which..do giue knowledge vnto one another (and so to the vpland) of suspected enemies.
1619 E. M. Bolton tr. Florus Rom. Hist. iii. vi. 288 Who transplanted this broode of mariners..out of the very ken of the sea, and as it were teddred them fast in the vplands [L. mediterraneis agris].
1825 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. Suppl. Upwark, apparently, labour in the inland, or upland, as distinguished from employment in fishing.
1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days i. i. 1 Leaving their mark in American forests and Australian uplands.
2.
a. An area or stretch of high ground; a piece of high, hilly, or mountainous country. Usually in plural.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > landscape > high land > [noun]
downlandeOE
downOE
highlandOE
high country1445
wold1472
high ground1489
upland1566
hill-country1582
Chiltern1627
downs country1791
altitude1853
upwold1875
top-land1877
1566 Act 8 Eliz. c. 13 §1 Beakons..in suche Place or Places of the Sea Shores and Uplandes neere the Sea costes.
1589 A. Fleming tr. Virgil Eclogs vi. 18 in A. Fleming tr. Virgil Bucoliks You the nymphs of woods, Close in the uplands [L. claudite saltus] of your woods.
1617 R. Brathwait Smoaking Age in tr. ‘B. Multibibus’ Solemne Ioviall Disputation 147 Their Long Acres, Uplands and Downe-lands shall flie in a trice to retaine thee.
a1676 M. Hale Primitive Originat. Mankind (1677) ii. vii. 192 The Downs or Uplands of Cammington in Huntingdonshire.
a1676 M. Hale Primitive Originat. Mankind (1677) ii. vii. 200 The Up-lands in England yield strong, sinewy, hardy Men.
1742 Defoe's Tour Great Brit. (ed. 3) I. 9 They generally chose to leave their own Lasses to their Neighbours out of the Marshes, and went into the Uplands for a Wife.
1764 O. Goldsmith Traveller 6 Her uplands sloping deck the mountain's side.
1789 G. White Nat. Hist. Selborne 2 At the foot of this hill, one stage or step from the uplands, lies the village.
1807 J. Barlow Columbiad i. 35 How slope their uplands to the morning sun!
1825 M. M. Sherwood Lady of Manor (ed. 2) I. vi. 171 A blue upland in the remotest distance finished this exquisite picture.
1879 F. W. Farrar Life & Work St. Paul I. vi. xxii. 414 He was working with Paul alone on the wild uplands of Lycaonia.
b. In singular with the, or without article.
ΚΠ
1699 W. Dampier Voy. & Descr. ii. iv. 111 The whole Country, the Up-land I mean, seems to be much the same [kind of soil].
1785 W. Cowper Task v. 197 As a shepherd separates his flock, These to the upland, to the valley those.
1813 W. Scott Rokeby v. 206 The eve, that slow on upland fades, Has darker closed on Rokeby's glades.
1856 C. Merivale Hist. Romans under Empire IV. xxxviii. 359 They had emerged..from the woods, and had gained the open upland of swamp and moor.
1891 T. Hardy Tess of the D'Urbervilles I. viii. 104 Their present speed on the upland being by no means slow.
3. High ground, as opposed to meadow or marsh; ground not liable to flooding; a stretch of this. Chiefly local and U.S.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > landscape > high land > [noun] > relatively
higher ground1539
upgrounda1552
upland1572
overground1600
1572 in Court Minutes Surrey & Kent Sewer Comm. (London County Council) (1909) 115 Alle the vpp lande betwin Newington and Lambeth Sewinge to the same sluce.
1580 T. Tusser Fiue Hundred Pointes Good Husbandrie (new ed.) f. 22 New broken vpland..for wheat is not best.
1598 Archdeaconry of Essex Minutes (MS.) f. 49 Being sessed by the acar..at id the acre of vpland and iid the acre for marshe.
1639 in Coffin Hist. Newberry, Mass. (1845) 29 All the upland and meadow and marish between us and Ipswich.
1696 J. Aubrey Miscellanies 11 This Marsh-land..was never worth one Farthing to me, but very often eat into the Rents of the Up-land.
1708 London Gaz. No. 4489/3 46 Acres of Uplands, or Side-hill-Lands.
1763 Museum Rusticum (1764) 1 307 If it was sowed in up-land,..you could not get the timothy-grass out of it.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth I. 159 A large upland, with its houses, its corn, and cattle,..loosened from its place.
1841 N. P. Rogers in J. G. Whittier Prose Wks. (1889) II. 227 The Pemigewasset,..meandering from upland to upland through the meadows.
1842 Ld. Tennyson Lady of Shalott (rev. ed.) i, in Poems (new ed.) I. 79 The reaper weary, Piling sheaves in uplands airy.
4. elliptical in plural. Upland cotton. (Cf. B. 2c.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > cotton > [noun] > with short staple
short staple1802
upland cotton1832
upland1858
short-silk1870
1858 I. S. Homans & I. S. Homans Cycl. Commerce & Commerc. Navigation 448 Cotton..[exported from] Florida. To foreign ports—Uplands, 30,880 bales.
1880 C. R. Markham Peruvian Bark 468 Species of cotton... New Orleans or ‘Uplands’... ‘Uplands’ grown in India.
B. adj.2
1.
a. Of districts or places: Lying away from the sea or in the higher parts of a country; inland, remote.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > land mass > shore or bank > interior land > [adjective]
Midlanda1475
upland1575
Mediterraneal1598
Mediterrane1599
Mediterranean1601
mediterraneous1646
interior1772
1575 Russia (1856) 9 The uplande countries of Russia..stretchethe exceding large and long.
1582 S. Batman Vppon Bartholome, De Proprietatibus Rerum xviii. lxxxi. 376/2 The want of tillage..decayes villages, hamlets, and vpland townes.
1601 R. Johnson tr. G. Botero Trauellers Breuiat 7 The vpland townes are fairer and richer, then those that stand neerer the sea.
1645 J. Milton L'Allegro in Poems 34 Som times with secure delight The up-land Hamlets will invite.
1830 W. Scott Old Mortality Introd., in Tales of my Landlord (new ed.) I. 231 The little upland village of Balmaclellan, in the Glenkens of Galloway.
1872 A. T. de Vere Legends St. Patrick 73 Fire takes the little cot beside the mere, And leaps upon the upland village.
b. Living inland.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabiting a type of place > [adjective] > dwelling inland
upland1716
1716 B. Church Entertaining Passages Philip's War i. 27 Some..Narraganset Indians, and some other Upland Indians, in all about 300.
1870 J. H. Burton Hist. Scotl. to 1688 VI. lxvi. 345 Among the upland folk of Scotland there were strong prejudices against all attempts to settle in distant wilds.
2.
a. Lying higher than the surrounding country; forming part of an elevated area; situated on high ground.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > landscape > high land > [adjective]
overOE
upa1400
uppera1400
high?a1425
uplandsa1525
uplandish1551
highland1595
upland1610
high country1612
uphill1613
Highlandish1632
uplying1877
1610 J. Norden Speculum Brit.: Cornwall (1728) 20 Their haye groweth comonly in the vplande and drye groundes.
1707 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry 12 The worst of Up-land Meadows is that they often need mending or feeding.
1731 P. Miller Gardeners Dict. I. at Ranunculus Take a Quantity of fresh Earth from a rich up-land Pasture.
1796 R. Southey Joan of Arc ix. 292 Dark on the upland bank The hedge-row trees..Rose on the grey horizon.
1843 E. Bulwer-Lytton Last of Barons I. i. i. 4 The twin green hills..with the upland park and chase.
1879 A. R. Wallace Australasia ii. 15 These highlands generally present the appearance of hilly upland plains.
b. Living on, or frequenting, high ground. (In modern use frequently in specific names of birds, etc.) upland plover n. the upland sandpiper, Bartramia longicauda.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabiting a type of place > [adjective] > inhabiting high land
uplandsc1330
uplandisha1387
upa1400
highland1595
mountain people1596
mountainous1613
upper1617
upland1622
hilly1632
the world > the earth > land > landscape > high land > [adjective] > frequenting
uplandish1545
upland1622
the world > animals > by habitat > [adjective] > terrestrial > inhabiting high ground
uplandish1545
upland1859
subalpine1974
1622 J. Taylor Farewell to Tower-bottles A 4 When Vpland Trades-men thus dares take in hand A wat'ry buis'nesse, they not vnderstand.
1695 E. Gibson tr. W. Camden Britannia 408 Fen-men; a sort of people..of brutish unciviliz'd tempers, envious of all others, whom they term Upland men.
a1825 R. Forby Vocab. E. Anglia (1830) Uplander, Uplandman, an inhabitant of the uplands.
1859 C. Darwin Origin of Species vi. 185 There are upland geese with webbed feet which rarely or never go near the water.
1867 W. Morris Life & Death of Jason iv. 65 The upland sheep Must guard themselves..Against the wolf.
1872 E. Coues Key to N. Amer. Birds 260 Upland Plover. Field Plover.
1878 A. Pope (title) Upland Game Birds and Water Fowl of the United States.
c. Growing upon high ground; belonging to species growing or developed on high ground. upland cotton, a class of short-stapled cotton. Also (of minerals, etc.), found on high ground.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > by habitat or distribution > [adjective] > that grow in cold environments or at high altitude
uplandish1545
upland1639
alpestrine1787
alpestral1852
nival1884
microthermal1901
microthermic1903
microtherm1964
the world > the earth > minerals > [adjective] > found on high ground
upland1796
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > cotton > [noun] > with short staple
short staple1802
upland cotton1832
upland1858
short-silk1870
1639 T. de Gray Compl. Horseman ii. xviii. 309 Fine upland Hay (which was cut about Midsummer).
1759 P. Miller Gardeners Dict. (ed. 7) at Pasture The best Sort of Upland Hay Seeds, taken from the cleanest Pastures.
1789 T. Wright Meth. Watering Meadows (1790) 43 The hay of watered meadows is by no means equal in value to upland hay.
179. P. A. Nemnich Allgemeines Polyglotten-Lex. (at cited word) Upland willow. The red willow.
1796 R. Kirwan Elements Mineral. (ed. 2) II. 173 Upland Argillaceous Iron Ore.
1832 J. R. McCulloch Dict. Commerce 409 The upland or bowed Georgia cotton forms the..best portion of the short stapled class.
1833 G. B. Wood & F. Bache Dispensatory U.S.A. (1865) 710 Rhus glabrum.., called variously smooth sumach, Pennsylvania sumach, and upland sumach.
1858 I. S. Homans & I. S. Homans Cycl. Commerce & Commerc. Navigation 436/1 The upland cotton is a different species from the sea-island.
1894 Yellow Book I. 189 Where the upland hay..stretched thirstily up to the clouds.
d. Flowing down from higher ground.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > flow or flowing > [adjective] > down from high ground
upland1652
stairstepping1972
1652 W. Blith Eng. Improver Improved ix. 56 Cleer from any Land-floods, or up-land waters running through them.
1707 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry 18 Fenny Lands..drowned by Upland~floods and great Rains.
Draft additions June 2019
upland sandpiper n. a large migratory sandpiper native to open grasslands of North America, Bartramia longicauda, which has a long neck and tail and mottled black, brown, and white plumage and winters in central South America.Also called grass plover, upland plover.
ΚΠ
1848 ‘F. Forester’ Field Sports U.S. & Brit. Provinces Amer. I. 40 The Upland Sandpiper, Bartram's Tatler, Tringa Bartramia.., commonly known as the Upland Grass Plover, or Frost Bird.
1975 Wilson Bull. 87 97 The earliest hatching of Upland Sandpipers observed at Woodworth was on 14 June and the latest on 22 July.
2012 Tyrone (Pa.) Daily Herald 16 Oct. 10/2 The upland sandpiper, a grassland nesting bird long-classified as threatened, has been moved to the endangered species list.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1926; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
† uplandadv.1
Obsolete.
a. Out in the country: = uponland adv.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > country as opposed to town > [adverb]
uponlanda900
uplandc1380
upaland?a1513
c1380 J. Wyclif Wks. (1880) 176 To..helpe here pore neiȝeboris..& parische chirchis vplond.
c1400 Found. St. Bartholomew's (1923) 20 Hit ys tolde of a Richemanne vplond dwellyng that come to this Chirche.
c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 28 Men of the cuntre vplond bringen into Londoun in Mydsomer eue braunchis of trees..and flouris.
1551 J. Bale Actes Eng. Votaryes: 2nd Pt. f. lxvijv In most places they dwelt vplonde.
b. Jack (John) Upland, used as a name for a rustic. (Cf. upaland adv. b.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > farmer > [noun] > rustic or peasant
tillman940
churla1000
ploughman1223
bondmanc1250
bondc1275
ploughswain1296
countrymanc1300
boundec1320
Hobc1325
charla1400
landmana1400
Jack (John) Upland1402
carlc1405
bowerc1430
peasanta1450
rurala1475
agrest1480
bergier1480
carlleina1500
rustical?1532
ploughboy1544
boor1548
rusticc1550
kern1556
tillsman1561
clown1563
Jocka1568
Jock upalanda1568
John Uponlanda1568
russet coat1568
rustican1570
hind?1577
swain1579
Corydon1581
mountain man1587
Phillis1589
sylvan1589
russeting1597
Joan1598
stubble boy1598
paysan1609
carlota1616
swainling1615
raiyat1625
contadino1630
under-swaina1644
high shoe1647
boorinn1649
Bonhomme1660
high-shoon-man1664
countrywoman1679
villan1685
russet gown1694
ruralist1739
paysanne1748
bauer1799
bonderman1804
bodach1830
contadina1835
agrestian1837
peasantess1841
country jake1845
rufus1846
bonder1848
hayseed1851
bucolic1862
agricole1882
country jay1888
child (son, etc.) of the soil1891
hillbilly1900
palouser1903
kisan1935
woop woop1936
swede-basher1943
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabitant > inhabitant according to environment > country dweller > [noun]
countrymanc1300
landmana1400
Jack (John) Upland1402
rurala1475
rustical?1532
rusticc1550
Jock upalanda1568
John Uponlanda1568
rustican1570
countrywoman1679
country cousin1692
ruralist1739
country mouse1750
backwoodsman1774
back-countryman1796
mountaineer1837
ruralite1841
mountain man1847
smock-frock1858
way back1890
woop woop1936
swamp Yankee1941
1402 in Wright Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 16 I, Jacke Upland, make my mone to very God.
1402 in Wright Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 40 A frere..aresoneth Jak Uplonde.
1529 D. Lindsay Compl. 407 Ihone Upeland bene full blyith, I trow, Because the rysche bus kepis his kow.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1926; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
uplandadv.2
rare.
In the higher or inner part of a country.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > land mass > shore or bank > seashore or coast > [adverb] > away from
up847
from the shoreward1582
uplanda1674
offshore1720
a1674 J. Milton Brief Hist. Moscovia (1682) ii. 26 Further up-land they have also built other Cities of Wood.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1926; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
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n.1adj.1a1122
n.2adj.21566adv.1c1380adv.2a1674