1. One who or that which is up, in various senses. rare.
1536. Rem. Sedition, i b. Say, farewell welth, where lust is lyked, and lawe refused, where uppe is sette downe, and downe sette uppe.
1759. Sterne, Tr. Shandy, I. xi. With us, you see, the case is quite different:—we are all ups and downs in this matter;—you are a great genius;—or … a great dunce.
1890. Punch, 22 Feb., 85. It’s the up-and-down bizness of life, mate, as makes it such fun—for the ups.
1895. M. Corelli, Sorrows Satan, iv. It implies … that one must choose an up or a down,—genius is the Up, money is the Down.
b. A rise or elevation in the ground. Also in fig. context. (Cf. UP AND DOWN sb. 1 a.)
1637. Rutherford, Lett. (1664), 32. But Oh the windings, the turnings, the up’s & the down’s, that he hath led me through.
1755. Walpole, Lett. to Bentley, 18 Sept. The bad choice of the situation in such a country; it is all ups that should be downs.
2. 1 a. The action of arising from bed. nonce-use.
1602. Marston, Ant. & Mel., III. E 3. Here ile sleepe till that the sceane of vp Is past at Court.
b. A rise in life; a spell of prosperity; a success. Usu. pl., and contrasted with down(s). (Cf. UP AND DOWN sb. 2 a.)
1844. Dickens, Mart. Chuz., xvi. And as fraudulent transactions have their downs as well as ups; the major was occasionally under a cloud.
1857. Locker, Lond. Life, 20. Life is chequer’d, a patchwork of smiles and of frowns; We valued its ups, let us muse on its downs.
1890. Doyle, Sign of Four, xii. I’ve had ups in my life, and I’ve had downs.
c. A rise in price or value.
1897. Westm. Gaz., 19 June, 6/3. But there were downs as well as ups, and we find the embryo South-Western … with its £50 shares at 43.
3. An ‘up’ train or coach.
1884. Graphic, 15 Nov., 503/2. To spend pleasant quarters of an hour in waiting for the ‘ups’ and ‘downs.’
