adj ( BrE humor disapprov )
( of a word or an action ) not showing the correct manners that are typical of someone who has been properly educated or of an upper-class person. The terms U (= upper class) and non-U (= not upper class) were first used by an English professor in 1954 to discuss the speaking habits of English people, but they were made popular and their meaning was extended by Nancy Mitford in her book Noblesse Oblige (1956).