Wiktionary

upon

See also: up on

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English upon, uppon, uppen, from Old English upon, uppon, uppan (“on, upon, up to, against, after, in addition to”), equivalent to up (“adverb”) +‎ on (“preposition”). Cognate with Old Saxon uppan (“upon”), Old High German ūfan, ūffan (“upon”), Icelandic upp á, upp á (“up on, upon”), Swedish uppå (“up on, upon”) (thence Swedish på), Danish på (“up on, upon”), Norwegian på (“up on, upon”).

Pronunciation

Preposition

upon

  1. A higher-register or more formal alternative to on in most, though not all, prepositional uses.
    A vase of flowers stood upon the table. — The painting hangs upon the wall. — All of the responsibility is upon him. — She plays upon a violin (or piano). — The lighthouse that you can see is upon the mainland. — He rested upon his elbows. — Tug upon the rope; push hard upon the door! — I stubbed my toe upon an old tree stump. — He wore old shoes upon his feet. — Born upon the 4th of July. — I have no opinion upon this subject. — They proceeded to arrest someone upon suspicion of bribery. — Upon Jack's entry, William got up to leave. — Before we knew it, the forest was upon us, and the air grew colder and damper. — What will be the effect upon morale? — Have pity or compassion upon him. — They lived upon ten dollars a week. — We ate heaps upon heaps of food. — I depended upon them for assistance. — He affirmed or promised upon his word. — Upon my life, I am innocent. — A curse upon him!
    • 1899, Hughes Mearns, Antigonish:
      Yesterday, upon the stair / I met a man who wasn’t there / He wasn’t there again today / I wish, I wish he’d go away …
    • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
      No news of them? Why, so: and I know not what's spend in the search: why thou loss upon loss! the thief gone with so much, and so much to find the thief; and no satisfaction, no revenge: nor no ill luck stirring but what lights on my shoulders; no sighs but of my breathing; no tears but of my shedding.
    • 2023, Patricia Taxxon, “DEDGDEDCEGEOGCGHCOCTOHOTHTHT”, in TECHDOG:
      The drums play on
      The year of the dog is upon us.
    • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
      Although the Celebrity was almost impervious to sarcasm, he was now beginning to exhibit visible signs of uneasiness, the consciousness dawning upon him that his eccentricity was not receiving the ovation it merited.
    • 1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter I (Anarchy), page 373, column 2:
      Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to "Chat of the Social World," gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl's intelligence.
    • 1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros‎[1], London: Jonathan Cape, page 7:
      But as they were upon going forth, a trumpet was sounded without, three strident blasts.

Usage notes

A somewhat elevated word, "upon" is used mostly in literary, poetic or legal contexts, and may seem out of place in everyday language. Nevertheless, its use in educated conversational English is unremarkable in some contexts, mostly more abstract ones, for example "I depended upon them" or "He took it upon himself to tell them", while conversational "Where's my pen?" / "It's upon the table" is likely to sound pedantic or strange. For some uses of "on", such as "I saw it on that TV show" or "Is he active on Facebook?", "upon" is so strained as to be effectively impossible. Conversely, "on" is possible as an alternative to "upon" in almost all cases; exceptions include certain set phrases, such as "once upon a time" or "Upon my word!" (dated expression of surprise).

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

References

  • “upon”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

Bikol Central

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ʔuˈpon/ [ʔuˈpon̪]
  • Hyphenation: u‧pon

Noun

upón (Basahan spelling ᜂᜉᜓᜈ᜔)

  1. wild boar
    Synonym: baboy

See also

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old English upon, uppon, uppan (“on, upon, up to, against, after, in addition to”), equivalent to up +‎ on.

Pronunciation

Preposition

upon

  1. upon
    • 1407, The Testimony of William Thorpe, pages 40–41:
      And I seide, “Ser, in his tyme maister Ioon Wiclef was holden of ful many men the grettis clerk that thei knewen lyuynge vpon erthe. And therwith he was named, as I gesse worthili, a passing reuli man and an innocent in al his lyuynge. And herfore grete men of kunnynge and other also drowen myche to him, and comownede ofte with him. And thei sauouriden so his loore that thei wroten it bisili and enforsiden hem to rulen hem theraftir… Maister Ion Aston taughte and wroot acordingli and ful bisili, where and whanne and to whom he myghte, and he vsid it himsilf, I gesse, right perfyghtli vnto his lyues eende. Also Filip of Repintoun whilis he was a chanoun of Leycetre, Nycol Herforde, dane Geffrey of Pikeringe, monke of Biland and a maistir dyuynyte, and Ioon Purueye, and manye other whiche weren holden rightwise men and prudent, taughten and wroten bisili this forseide lore of Wiclef, and conformeden hem therto. And with alle these men I was ofte homli and I comownede with hem long tyme and fele, and so bifore alle othir men I chees wilfulli to be enformed bi hem and of hem, and speciali of Wiclef himsilf, as of the moost vertuous and goodlich wise man that I herde of owhere either knew. And herfore of Wicleef speciali and of these men I toke the lore whiche I haue taughte and purpose to lyue aftir, if God wole, to my lyues ende.”
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Adverb

upon

  1. upon

Descendants

  • English: upon
  • Yola: apan, apaa, apa, upan, upa, pa (aphetic)

References

Old English

Preposition

upon

  1. Alternative form of uppan
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