upstart

English

Etymology

From Middle English upstarten, upsterten, equivalent to up- +‎ start.

Pronunciation

• (General Australian, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈʌp.stɑːt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈʌp.stɑɹt/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

upstart (plural upstarts)

1. One who has suddenly gained wealth, power, or other prominence, but either has not received social acceptance or has become arrogant or presumptuous.
   • 1631, Francis [Bacon], “VI. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:

     upstarts […] they call in reproach mushrooms

   • 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter XVIII, in Emma: […], volume II, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC, page 345:

     [S]he has no fair pretence of family or blood. She was nobody when he married her, barely the daughter of a gentleman; but ever since her being turned into a Churchill she has out-Churchill’d them all in high and mighty claims: but in herself, I assure you, she is an upstart.”

   • 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, in Internal Combustion‎^[1]:

     But electric vehicles and the batteries that made them run became ensnared in corporate scandals, fraud, and monopolistic corruption that shook the confidence of the nation and inspired automotive upstarts.

   • 2012 June 29, Kevin Mitchell, “Roger Federer back from Wimbledon 2012 brink to beat Julien Benneteau”, in The Guardian‎^[2], archived from the original on 15 November 2016:

     Where the Czech upstart [Lukáš] Rosol, ranked 100 in the world, all but blew [Rafael] Nadal's head off with his blunderbuss in a fifth set of unrivalled intensity on Thursday night, [Julien] Benneteau, a more artful citizen, used a rapier to hurt his vaunted foe before falling just short of a kill. In the end, it was he who staggered from the scene of the fight.

2. The meadow saffron.

Synonyms

• arriviste
• nouveau riche
• parvenu

Translations

newly rich or prominent

• Bulgarian: парвеню́ (bg) n (parvenjú)
• Catalan: nou-ric (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 暴發戶／暴发户 (zh) (bàofāhù)

• Czech: povýšenec m
• Dutch: nieuwkomeling m, parvenu (nl) m
• Finnish: nousukas (fi), uusrikas (fi)
• French: parvenu (fr) m, arriviste (fr) m, nouveau riche (fr) m
• German: Emporkömmling (de) m, Parvenü (de) m, Neureicher (de) m
• Greek: αριβίστας (el) m (arivístas)
• Icelandic: uppskafningur (is) m
• Irish: sotaire m, sárachán m
• Japanese: 成り金 (なりきん, narikin), 成り上がり者 (なりあがりもの, nariagari-mono), 出来星 (ja) (できぼし, dekiboshi)
• Latin: novus homo m
• Maori: hoetere
• Norwegian: oppkomling m
• Portuguese: arrivista (pt) m or f, novo-rico (pt) m, emergente (pt)
• Russian: вы́скочка (ru) m or f (výskočka), нувори́ш (ru) m (nuvoríš), парвеню́ (ru) m (parvenjú), из грязи в князи (ru) (iz grjazi v knjazi)
• Serbo-Croatian: skorojević m, skorojevićka f
• Spanish: advenedizo (es) m, advenediza (es) f, (unscrupulous upstart) arribista (es) m or f, nuevo rico (es) m
• Swedish: uppkomling (sv) c
• Turkish: sonradan görme (tr)

Adjective

upstart (comparative more upstart, superlative most upstart)

1. Acting like a parvenu.
2. self-important and presumptuous.

Translations

self-important and presumptuous

• Bulgarian: парвенюшки (parvenjuški)
• Dutch: parvenuachtig (nl)
• Finnish: nousukasmainen (fi)
• German: Angeber (de) m
• Italian: arricchito (it), parvenu (it)
• Spanish: advenedizo (es), (unscrupulous upstart) arribista (es)
• Swedish: uppkomling (sv)

Verb

upstart (third-person singular simple present upstarts, present participle upstarting, simple past and past participle upstarted)

1. to rise suddenly, to spring
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Th' Elfe therewith astownd,
     Upstarted lightly from his looser make,
     And his unready weapons gan in hand to take.

   • 1859, Alfred Tennyson, “(please specify the page)”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC:

     the beauteous beast
     Scared by the noise upstarted at our feet

   • 1845 February, — Quarles [pseudonym; Edgar Allan Poe], “The Raven”, in The American Review‎^[3], volume I, number II, New York, N.Y., London: Wiley & Putnam, […], →OCLC:

     "Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, upstarting—

Anagrams

• start up, start-up, startup