Definition of "upper" []

• Higher in place, position, or rank: the upper bunk; the upper half of the class. (adjective)
• Situated on higher ground: upper regions. (adjective)
• Lying farther inland: the upper Nile. (adjective)
• Northern: the upper Midwest. (adjective)
• Geology & Archaeology Of, relating to, or being a later division of the period named. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The first four tones of any diatonic scale (major or minor) are often referred to as the _lower tetrachord_ [14] and the upper four tones as the _upper tetrachord_."
• "SIR THOMAS MORE, the famous Chancellor, who preserved his humor and wit to the last moment, when he came to be executed on Tower-hill, the headsman demanded his upper garment as his fee; "Ah! friend," said he, taking off his cap, "that, I think, is my _upper_ garment.""
• ""I may say that nearly invariably the order is -- 1st, the lower front incissors [cutting teeth], then the upper front, then the _upper_ two lateral incissors, and that not uncommonly"